My 9-year-old daughter recently made the sobering observation that I’m in what she calls the “late summer” of my life. After my initial denial - who you calling late summer? It’s still spring from where I’m sitting! - my response, as you can imagine, was a mix of pride and awe that she could articulate such a concept, and then humble recognition of the truth of it.
I didn’t ask my daughter too many questions in response to her observation because frankly, I was afraid of what she might say. I did, however, consider why I was so afraid of finding out what she meant by her statement. In my mind, being in the “late summer” of my life meant that fall is right around the corner, and what comes after fall? Yep, winter and well, you know what comes with that. In short, her statement caused an entire cascade of existential concerns to come to the surface, but at the heart of it all is one thing: change.
Change can be scary, even the ones we’ve looked forward to for a long time, and the reason is simple: we don’t know what will happen next. Things can always get better, but they could also get worse. With change comes risk.
It is this resistance to change that stymies so many people in both their personal and professional lives. It’s true everyone has a different tolerance for risk, but an extreme reluctance to accept change can be the death knell to success. Those in the rental industry have certainly seen their share of change over the past several years, and those who have embraced the changes are the ones who are still growing and thriving today.
We at Rental are currently going through our own set of changes, as we and our sister publications serving the construction industry were recently sold to a new owner to become a brand new company called AC Business Media. With the sale finalized in August, we’re just now beginning to build a new company culture with new ways of doing things. I worked for the same company for just shy of 20 years before the sale took place, and I admit the change was a little unsettling at first, but trepidation quickly turned to excitement. This is so often the case once we get over the initial fear of transition and really dig into something new, whether it be a job, business venture... or even the next milestone birthday.
So now when think of my daughter’s statement that I’m in my “late summer,” I’m trying to remember all the promise that can come with that. After all, the change of seasons is something I’ve always looked forward to because it never fails to bring new opportunities and a fresh outlook on things. May we all strive to embrace change and keep an eye out for all the positive things it can throw our way.
