Wednesday Wisdom: Passages

Wednesday Morning, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners

After ending a week of meetings with dear women associated with my business and life, the word passage kept coming up in my thoughts after visiting each one.

The first meeting was with a woman who physically moved away but calls me when she is in town so we have lunch and talk about what has happened during the passage of time since we last met.

Two of the other women attended an event where we haven’t been physically in each other’s presence since Covid struck in 2019. We saw each other online but haven’t hugged or met face-to-face. We wondered how the passage of time from 2019 to 2023 had gone so fast and changed so many ways people relate to each other especially being more nervous to socialize.

The other two women were my 86- and 89-year-old aunts – one still living in her home for the last 8 decades, and the other at a nursing home for the past year. They reminisced about memories and how content they were letting time slip away and letting go while aging. They reminded me losing my hair eventually won’t matter as much to me since all women age and lose parts of themselves in the process.

As I face the passage of being a woman entrepreneur for 3 decades – most likely ending my business journey at the end of the year – thoughts of whom I’ve known, what I’ve learned, what I’ve taught, and even what I’ve written swirl like a kaleidoscope of colors (mostly shades of pink), in my mind. Passing on…isn’t always a happy statement but when you look up the definition of the word in a dictionary it states, “Passage is the action or process of passing from one place, condition, or stage to another.”  

The definition of passage doesn’t mention if the action or process is good or bad, happy or sad, relevant or irrelevant, just that it means moving from one place, condition, or stage to something different. It has a much softer meaning than what we tend to think of. For example, if a loved one passes on we know they are psychically not here, they are just behind a thin veil where we can always reach them; if a business passes on (aka closes), it might mean its initial purpose has come to a natural end; and if our physical beauty passes on, we don’t lose our spirit just because we look different.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom might spur on visions of what the word “passage” means in your life or business right now. Is the passage good or bad? Is it expected or unexpected? Have you learned anything from it? Can you reset to move onto another place, stage, or condition gracefully? If you’re feeling good and up for the challenge, awesome, and if you aren’t talk to someone to gain a clearer perspective or give yourself more time. The definition of the word passage didn’t have a time limit associated with it.

My only wish for you today is you are gentler with yourself as you lean into that next passage, stage, or condition you face, taking positive steps to continue to make your life or business a content place to be. Just sometimes, content is enough.