(4 minute read - 798 words)

Where I live, things are slowly beginning to open up after 2 years of restrictions.  I’m not going to use words like ‘getting easier’ and I’m staying away from the popular ‘getting back to normal’.  As most of us know, the normal we're getting 'back' to is a different one.  Things have changed. 

If the past 2 years have taught me anything, it’s that waiting for the perfect moment is gone. Infact waiting for the perfect is gone.  While it’s often true that, for some things, timing is important, it’s time to step back and look at the reasons for those timing requirements. 

In early 2020 I began an 8 week on-line course on developing and presenting on-line programs.  The curriculum looked great, alongside the content development components we would be looking into the best microphones, lights, and programs to help you look and sound truly professional.  And then we went into our first lockdown.  Urgh! The timing!  The International Day of Happiness was less than a week away, my booking diary was full.  In my mind I wasn’t ready to go on-line, the on-line delivery course had another 5 weeks to run. It was too early!

The first client who contacted me cancelled their session.  They were a regular client, and they didn’t feel their group would connect on-line.  The second caller wanted to postpone our workshop for a few weeks.  They were sure ‘this’ would all blow over pretty quickly.  The third had decided they’d have me present their session on-line. They were a national organisation, and they were use to bringing people together virtually.  While their original plan was to have me present in-person in their 7 offices around the country, they were excited that circumstances meant they could get everyone in the same room at the same time without the expense of flights and multiple booking fees.  The planned 7 sessions would become one, two if everyone loved it. I wasn’t sure, in fact I said no, I simply wasn’t ready.  The caller simply laughed and said they’d sort me out.  Despite what I was learning in my on-line course about on-line presenting there would be no fancy programs, we’d be using Microsoft Teams with Zoom as a back up.  They’d organise the links.  With the first workshop less than a week away I quickly learned that there’d been a rush on microphones and lighting.  While I was forced to buy a rather nice and fairly top end microphone, I’d need to be creative with my lighting, an on-line delivery would be to late for the session. And so, without the timing or anything else being perfect I went live from my lounge room.   

Despite meeting almost none of the recommendations in the on-line course the session was fine. The client ended up booking another 3 sessions and while I missed the fun of the travel, I not only got to meet their local staff but was beamed into the offices of some of their international connections.  We connected over hastily set up on-line offices and laughed about microphones and happily welcomed the random appearance of children, pets and partners. It was less than perfect, but it was, it turned out, a lot of fun.

Looking back I know that had I waited for the perfect timing, or the perfect set up, I might have been waiting a while.  When would the perfect time be?  How much would I need to invest in the perfect set up?  And would I get either perfectly right? And would that make me too nervous to do it in the first place?

I teach compassion and the benefits of the non-judgemental and joyous mindsets, and suddenly, thanks to lockdowns and restrictions, which, unlike that second client suggested (and who I’ve now run a number of on-line sessions for), didn’t ‘blow over in a couple of weeks’, I was thrown in the deep end, no perfect timing, no perfect set up, and I thank the past 2 years for that.

I'm more than happy to ask myself the question ‘what are you waiting for?’  While I might still hesitate, I’ve realised that perfect timing is something we can only really see in hindsight.  Yes, sometimes we might get it wrong, but more often than not, the perfect time is actually right now and as for the perfect?  That one is subjective, what I think is perfect might be less so for someone else, but we’ll talk more about that next month. 

I wish you all an amazing month, may you take a deep breath and dive into the deep end of life, and even if it isn’t perfect, may it be enough to make you smile.                           

Bron Roberts is the Chief Happiness office of Let's Laugh and the Let's group - Let's Laugh, Let's be Mindful and Let's Move.  Her passion is the strategic use of laughter, mindfulness and movement to not only raise feelings of wellbeing in the good times, but help us benefit from the power of joy when times are tough.  With a background in general and positive psychology, neuroscience and humour as a therapeutic modality, and as Australia’s only Certified Humour Professional and Laughter Yoga Wellbeing Master trainer she’s happy to be called a happiness nerd.  Her mission for 2022 is to help 100,000 people find their own version of happy and with a quarter of the year gone she is already well on her way..