Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Separate yourself
It’s rained for 11 straight Saturdays here in New England. At this point, no matter how many times I shake my Magic 8 ball, I cannot get a clear answer of whether Summer is coming to stay anytime soon.
Naturally, the weather has me thinking…about the weather. About how so many times we let it affect our mood, our mindset, or our momentum.
Then I came across this quote:
Forget the rain. Set that aside. You can’t control it.
Let’s break it down:
The sky? That’s your core. Your values. Identity. (Self-)awareness. Constant but expansive. Changing yet unmoved. Always there, even a storm front obscures it.
The weather? That’s everything else. Stress. Disappointment. Pressure. Praise. Success. Stumbles. Meetings. Mixed signals. Breakups, breakdowns, and burnout. It rolls in…it rolls out. And depending on the day it can ruin your plans or leave you grateful to be alive to enjoy it.
We’ve all been there. Someone asks, “Do you have a quick second?” and your day gets completely derailed. Or you’re in deep in a creative groove, headphones on, making progress—and someone taps you on the shoulder and cuts off your flow with something that could easily have waited. Or someone schedules a last-minute meeting in the only half-hour free you had all day…and it’s during the lunch hour.
And sometimes, it’s even heavier. A “quick touch base” meeting gets scheduled, and when it ends you’ve unexpectedly lost the job you loved.
Some of these sting more than others—but they’re still just weather. Passing storms, not permanent climate change.
The mistake—at work, in life, in leadership of any kind—is thinking the weather is the sky.
One bad performance review and we think we suck at our job.
One win and we rest on our laurels, thinking we’re untouchable.
We let our sense of clarity, purpose, and overall worth get defined by one lousy forecast.
But here’s the good part.
Unlike the actual weather, we can influence some of what happens around us, and we can always influence our response. We can shift the climate of our organization; change the temperature of our teams; or bring an umbrella, a warm jacket, or a swimsuit “just in case.” When we anchor ourselves in who we are, we are steady in times of turbulence.
This week’s song reminds us that we don’t need perfect conditions to lead, create, or connect in authentic, meaningful, and sustainable ways.
Never forget this: you are the sky.
Everything else is just renting space, and you have the right to evict any any tenant who disrespects the lease.
Hope you’re having a great week!
If you want to make space to re-visit—individually or with others—the things that anchor you and to ensure that you’re staying grounded in your values, I’ve created this guide to help you reflect:
