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What just happened?! For 10+ years or so, I have held on to my Five Core Elements of Leadership, Storysharing, Corporate/Community Relations, Student Development and being a Community Do-Gooder. They are (were), who I am. My life is (was) built around these words and guided me to all the amazing adventures I have embraced. Today, on an idle Tuesday drive to work, like most other days, it suddenly hit me…are these still the same words that apply to me today. A hermit crab outgrows it shell, I have out grown mine. It is time for a change!

Years ago, I updated my words to bring me to where I am today. My Five Core Elements became my personal DNA.
• Leadership is my need to support, enable and help others, including organizations, in their quest for a better life or making a difference.
• Storysharing is my ability to build and share stories but to also engage audiences with my speaking. What is also important about this element is that I want others to share their stories with me as well.
• The element of Corporate and Community Relations is my need to align myself with organizations and projects that I whole hardheartedly believe in so I can do the best job of representing them.
• When I speak about Student Development, it means the years I have dedicated to help young people understand life and career and to be present in their journey.
• Finally, being a Community Do-Gooder aligns with my need to give back and support communities. In the last 20 years, I have worked with 45+ non-profits and this has been rewarding.

So those are all really great and all of it matters to me but today I felt like there was a void emerging that has me reflecting and thinking. I now have to re-think my Five Core Elements and go through the words and thoughts to see what my words are going to be. Will they remain the five that I have, maybe? It might be that some or all might have to change. What I am asking of myself is what I ask others to do. To start questioning ‘why’. Why do those words matter and what words are missing? I am actually excited about revisiting my words and not only see if there is a change but to also see if it uncovers opportunities that I have overlooked because of not seeing these new words.

I encourage you to start thinking about what matters to you and if you could find five things that matter to you beyond job or career, what would they be. Look at where you are in life and how you got there? What do you like to do, or not like to do? Is there something that matters to you that you have not really addressed? Take time to reflect and see what resonates. What ever you come up with, ask yourself ‘why’, why is (are) the word or words important to you? I will have to get back to you on a part two when I uncover my words and share them with you. For now, I need to scan the horizon and seek out what is there before me…uncover the words that will guide me forward.