A Butterfly in Amber
I’ve worn this green amber ring for 15 years. I bought it in Copenhagen, Denmark during the first European SharePoint Portal Server Roadshow, from a lovely woman at the House of Amber. I rarely take it off; it is one of my favorite things. It is a distinct piece and it receives many compliments.
Green amber captures a part of earth’s prehistoric past. As a gemstone, it has high healing powers and helps balance stress, smoothing out feelings with its cheerful positive energy.
I just spent two weeks at Burning Man, a place that tests you, your emotions, your physical endurance — everything. I managed to get home without hurting myself or misplacing any physical objects of importance.
I made the solitary eight-hour drive from Reno to Los Angeles, through the Sierras, Mammoth, Death Valley, and the Mohave desert. I woke up this morning (after a long sleep-of-the-dead) to find my ring still on my finger… but the amber was gone. I laughed and then cried, thinking, “well, isn’t this just the perfect way to end this journey?”
Maybe the past few years of going through a divorce, moving to a new city, riding the roller coaster of relationships, and trying to figure out who I am worked that poor gemstone overtime with all my stress, worry, and sadness.
Maybe I was too much. Maybe it needed to release itself from me.
But maybe it helped me do the work so I can reset and write some new chapters on my own.
Impermanence is part of life. Death claims all of us, and loss is part of being human. And really, it’s only a ring. Another ring I “lost” a year ago — I chose to remove it — held much more significance than this amber.
We lose so many things more precious than jewelry — these human-made symbols of commitment, love, appreciation that affect us to our core. Knowing this means I also know losing the amber out of my ring is a trifle in a world where loved ones, homes, safety, integrity, freedom, equality, and so many other things are lost in the blink of an eye, often with little resolve.
This year’s Burning Man theme was “Metamorphosis.” I have been giving a presentation for the past year called “Without Change There Would Be No Butterflies: 4 Steps to Transform Your Business With Change Management,” using the metamorphosis of a pupa to a butterfly as a metaphor for the why and how. Funny what you manifest in both work and life if you say the words out into the universe enough.
So I came out of Burning Man and this past year feeling many things, and this morning I felt again what it means to lose something in order to gain, change, and learn.
The universe gives us gifts, and I see this as one of them.
I will put something new in the space left in my ring, but I’ll also continue to fill the newly opened space in my heart with gratitude and thankfulness to everyone and everything that has led me to this moment. To me, that is the only way to embrace change and grow. And who isn’t awed watching a butterfly unfurl its brand-new wings as it sheds its now-useless chrysalis? Magic.
…
Post script: Four days after I wrote this, as I was cleaning up and putting everything away from my trip, I stepped on something on my dark green kitchen rug.
The amber had dropped upon my unpacking — hidden in plain sight.
Maybe it just needed a little break instead of leaving me forever. Sometimes things you love come back to you in different forms or make you see them in a different light, anew. And again, I laughed and then I cried. Magic.
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Written by Head Maven & CEO, Heather Newman, Creative Maven.
Heather is a marketer, writer, speaker, playwright, podcaster, Microsoft MVP and lover of culture and “the why.” She has worked for over 20 years in technology and the arts. Heather lives in Los Angeles, California and enjoys traveling the world speaking about Office 365, SharePoint and Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. She is a published playwright, was born and raised in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Drama, Seattle WA and did a semester abroad at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Heather is always looking for an excuse to go to New York, New Orleans, London and the list of cities she made in her Dad’s Time/Life map when she was 11.
Follow her travels and writing on Twitter & Instagram.
Check out her posts #TheCurlerReport, tales of a woman on the go who happens to love her hot rollers.
Listen and subscribe to her podcast: Mavens Do It Better on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or the MDIB website. Interviews with extraordinary mavens who light a spark in our world. #mavensdoitbetter
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