There’s a particular kind of tired that has nothing to do with sleep.
It’s the tiredness that comes from watching the world feel increasingly unsteady – like constantly trying to walk across a wobbly bridge.
From the noise. From all the lies dressed up as truth.
From the uncertainty. From the exhaustion of trying to figure out what’s real, and which way is even up … let alone forward.
I’ve been sitting with that feeling a lot lately.
And then my hubs went and did something I’ve never seen him … or anyone else do, for that matter.
And honestly? It helped.
Let me back up.
We’ve been on the road since leaving Nairobi after fourteen years of calling it home.
It’s been a beautiful, disorienting, adventure-filled, stretching … bouncing between France and Turkey with a few other countries thrown in for good measure.
I celebrated my 60th along the way, which included taking in the utterly divine ABBA show, Mamma Mia The Party, in London (if you haven’t been, and you get the chance, GO! I’m not taking questions on this).
All of that moving around means a lot of packing, unpacking, and the eternal rhythm of day-to-day life … including laundry.
Which brings me to my hubs of 31 years.
This is a man with a vision. A man who jigs when others jag. Someone who moves through the world in a wonderfully unusual way … and from whom I have learned more things than I could fit in an encyclopedia. (Remember encyclopedias?!)
So when I spotted him through the bathroom door, standing fully clothed in a running shower, I did what any reasonable person would do.
I yelled through the splashing water: “What in the world of weird and wonderful are you doing?!”
His answer?
Can you guess?
Laundry.
Turns out, keeping your clothes on while you wash them is, as he calmly explained, just a whole lot easier.
I stood there for a moment. Then I laughed until my sides hurt.
And then, because I can’t help myself, I thought about it.
The best lessons really do come from the most unexpected places. A sixty-year-old woman, fresh off fourteen years in Nairobi, standing outside a shower in Turkey, learning a new approach to laundry from the person she knows best in the world.
When the world feels unsteady, staying curious is how we find our footing.
A learning mindset isn’t a nice-to-have.
Right now, it’s our saving grace.
The willingness to stay open. To be surprised. To let an old dog … or in this case, a very clever hubs … teach you something new.
That, and clean laundry.
Take Action Now – go on and learn, laugh, and lead
Learn
- The next unexpected lesson is probably already right in front of you. Where are you too busy or too certain to notice it?
Laugh
- With a learning mindset, can a dishwasher be a shower? Let’s see.
Lead
- A learning culture starts with leaders who are visibly willing to be wrong, surprised, and delighted. Model the curious mind you want to see.
P.P.S.
- While the monthly Roundtable is on a break, the Transformative Trainers Academy most certainly is not. If you’re someone with content expertise near and dear to your heart and you’ve been tasked to teach, the TTA was built for you. We’re a global community of changemakers who believe that great teaching changes everything. Come find your people. Learn more about the TTA and join here.
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Since 2009, I’ve been writing weekly posts across five topics. Click into whichever one makes you lean forward just now … you’ll find everything I’ve written on that topic waiting for you there. .
- Working Better Together – communication, conflict, creativity, collaboration, change. The so-called soft skills that turn out to be the hardest ones.
- Learning and Development – practical tools and fresh thinking for your own growth … because you deserve the same attention you give everyone else.
- Training of Trainers – if you’ve ever been asked to teach, train, or share your expertise with a group, this one’s for you.
- Tech Tools – not the scary kind, I promise. The kind that saves time, cuts overwhelm, and makes you look and feel like a rockstar.
- Life Lenses® – because the lens you look through changes everything. Posts on perspective, perception, and the Life Lenses® framework for understanding why we all see things so differently.
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