Below Belief

The company I work for has just been sold to an American startup based in Austin, Texas. It’s very exciting, ambition is in generous supply, we’ve just strapped on booster rockets and our growth is about to go ballistic.
It’s still an unusual situation and it puts me in the position where I am now responsible for delivering projects in the US but work from London. There is every possibility that the powers that be will decide shortly that they’d rather I were somewhat closer to hand. Alternatively, as time goes on and others come up to speed, my relative advantage diminishes.
I have just come back from muggy, unseasonably warm Texas where I was spending time meeting and greeting my new co-workers. I have been living my life to the background of an internal debate on whether it would or wouldn’t be a good idea to move out there, either temporarily or permanently.
Contemplating the possibility of a move there but happy to be back in Blighty, I find myself mentally categorising everything I do and see into “I’d miss that” or “I could do without that” piles. It’s making me evaluate life differently. Subtle things are important: the cold, wintery air against my skin as I swam in the outdoor pool at the gym today (too hot in Texas); the communal bus-ride home (they all drive SUVs); my cosy flat (solid Victorian comfort); British accents.
I’ll keep you posted.

Generally a very relaxing weekend down at my bosses’ house in Ringwood, the New Forest, except for a headlong bike crash which knocked me out and left me somewhat stunned and with scratches all down my face. The muddy gore was captured on camera for all to see…
Question: is it odd that my boss stooped to take a photo first before helping me up? To his credit he picked me up by car shortly afterwards!
I’m rather broken and bent now but you should see the bike… How did this happen? I was enthusiastically cycling down a gully to go up the other side when a puddle I decided to cycle through turned out to be a “hole”. Hence headlong over handlebars. Fortunately I was wearing a helmet and judging by the dent in the helmet I wouldn’t have been typing this if I hadn’t been wearing it.
As usual in bike accidents, watch is smashed…

I’ve long believed that choice has spoilt our generation. With our relative wealth, incredible independence, abundant career options, fantastic educational opportunities, ease of travelling to almost anywhere on this small planet, freedom from the need to go to war, ability to express our every desire in pretty much any way we choose, it would be easy to say, from outside, we had it all.
But something about the over-abundant choices we have is debilitating. We feel we have to keep our options open, that another option or path might be better for us, that if something doesn’t work we should take it back. Like I said, we’ve been spoilt by choice.
Having no choice, makes life almost unbearable. But as the number of choices one has grows, so too does the negative aspects of having those numerous choices.
If you haven’t already got into the habit of reading manifestos at ChangeThis, I thoroughly recommend you go give “spreading a meme” a go and read this: The Paradox of Choice.

I just love that I can be out in London, take a wobbly photo on my phone and minutes later relax, safe in the knowledge that it’s been published for the world to see. How cool is that? Just think about the complexity of how that is achieved…