I went through a bit of a rebel stage in high school. When I say rebel, I mean I got straight A’s and I knew how to roll a joint (I had some practice). It’s all relative.
Over time, my friends and I got into other things like working 24/7, spinning and a glass of wine after work. These activities were socially acceptable and could be done relatively shamelessly around other humans.
Basically, we changed.
It happens.
This week cannabis became legal in Canada.
And now the whole country has to figure out what this means. Before there was a clear message of “it’s BAD,” and now we’re like “OK, maybe it’s fine”.
It’s a massive perception shift. It’s calling on us to think about how we think. It’s challenging the views many of us never questioned before.
Imagine you invested years enmeshed in a certain way of a thinking, pursuing a specific career path, believing it was right for you, only to discover it actually wasn’t? Life marched on and you became different.
People tell me this story all the time. They feel like they did it wrong. They didn’t.
They just changed.
And for a lot of people, change is difficult.
A government takes an illegal substance and says “never mind, enjoy!”. A focused, motivated human looks at the road ahead, the road they chose and sprinted down, and feels nothing.
How do we reconcile the before and after of such a cosmic shift?
We pause. We observe. And we come to a view.
Then later: We pause. We observe. And we allow that view to change.
If your views aren’t changing, ask yourself whether you’re pausing and observing enough. If your career path doesn’t seem to fit anymore, allow yourself to come to a new view about where you need to be.
Let the old perceptions, the old truths, burn away (see what I did there?).
And let the new truth settle in.
Having come of age in a time when this little plant was vilified literally to the point of criminalization, where there was a real societal risk involved with buying and consuming it, I wonder, how will legalization change how our kids discover and potentially engage with it?
Here’s what I hope: They’ll know more than I did. Like, the effect it could have on their development, how much is too much, and what’s a safe(r) way to consume it. I hope legalization will be accompanied by education – and I’m already seeing it.
I also hope this: If they choose to try it, they can try a version that was grown responsibly, and with proceeds contributing to government revenue which funds healthcare, education and security rather than human trafficking and violence.
I hope that post-legalization, it won’t always be about that rebellious image, the “bad kid” who is “acting out” and getting high. I hope we can keep the entrepreneurial ones – bless their rebel hearts – from getting into selling this stuff out of their backpacks. They can do their homework (or start a legitimate business!) instead.
I hope that you too can step back, look at your path with grace and an open mind, and accept that it may need to change.
Then, have the common sense and courage not to stand in your own way. Your continued evolution is your human birth right. At work, at home, everywhere. Let it happen.
PS! if you’re on the road to change and interviewing, grab the interview prep guide HERE – it’s designed to help you nail your message, build your stories, find your voice and get the job.
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