It could only happen to you!

It could only happen to you; I have heard this said to me at least a dozen times in the past week, my sisters, my friends, my family, people I work with, I smile and say, I hope so.

The reality though is that we don’t always know what is going to happen, I have thought about this quite often in the last week, could something only happen to me, did I do something that made it happen to me. It doesn’t really matter at this point what “it” is but just stay with me on this one.

So the other day I listened to managers as they spoke about leadership quotes, they identify with and what they mean to them.

One of the quotes, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples." is not usually a quote that I would immediately identify with.

That day was slightly different, this made me reflect and ask myself a question, do I, really consider how something that I do or do not do, can have a huge impact on another person’s life. Immediately I answered my own question and reassured myself with the answer of, of course you do Helen, every time you speak with someone, every time you deliver training, every time you signpost someone, you always think about the ripples that you have just created and the impact that you want them to have.

That didn’t really answer what I was thinking about, so on that day why did I link that quote, with what people have said to me in the past week? We don’t know what is going to happen and we can all hope “it” whatever it is, won’t happen to us, the truth is, we just don’t know.

So before I get too deep, we can all take precautions, listen to the advice and directions we are given and follow them, we can think about what we need to do to keep ourselves safe, and we can be responsible and care. But it is also important to really think about the ripples that our own actions will cast and the impact that they may have on someone else, whether we intend them to or not.

They may not initially seem to be world changing but once you cast a stone it will create many ripples, some of which may become much larger than anticipated. I think that I need to use my stones wisely; think about the impact they could have, look out for the bigger picture and always, be kind.

Helen Whalley