The Bedrock of Bedrock
I have known Maureen McNulty my whole life. I have had the privilege of seeing her journey; from grieving the loss of a child to raising four children to the grief of losing a parent to being the parent of an addict to divorce and to being a strong independent woman. I have seen her struggle and I have seen her grow. I have seen her fail and I have seen her succeed. These are some of the lessons that I have observed from her journey.
Survival is about prioritizing what is in front of you. First and foremost, Maureen (or Moe to those who know her as a friend) is a survivor of what has happened in her life. She has persevered and overcome all of the challenges listed above, and many more. When adversity happened, and it will happen, she focused only on the task at hand. It’s the old adage of “first things first”, but with less tact than is usually embodied in that sentiment. It’s more of the idea that the most important things were done first because if they weren’t, all hell could break loose. Sometimes we just need to survive so we can get to the place where we can thrive.
Thriving is the hard work of working on yourself. This is oftentimes more difficult than merely surviving. Surviving is limited to get the job done ASAP. Thriving is about the conscious choice to lean into the pain and discomfort of change. I have watched Moe go through this transition in the past year. As the grips of survival have lessened, she has gone through the tussle of allowing thriving to be a part of her life. This has meant trusting a mentor to help guide her path. It has meant “trusting the process”, which is rarely graceful and frequently uncomfortable. It has meant abandoning old ideas and allowing new ones to challenge her core. This is the struggle of thriving: doing the work without any guarantee of a destination or payoff.
Growth is never linear. This has been one of the most obvious and challenging things I have witnessed in Moe. The idea that hard work or being more perfect or if/then thinking will get her somewhere has been blown sky-high. It has been more of 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, 1 to the right, 2 to the left, 2 up, and 1 to the right. At the end of the day, she has moved forward. However, that journey is twisty and turny and all sorts of curvy. Learning to lean into the curve is where the joy has been.
Patience is miserable; it is also the answer. I have watched Moe have to be patient with many business decisions, and outcomes, over the past two years. I have seen her have to wait on the divine timing of it all, and the uncomfortable waiting that comes with that place. The struggle and pressure have created some real diamonds, such as moving to Colorado, learning to be comfortable in her own skin, taking on a relationship with a technology company, and growing relationships with people that seem to randomly appear.
This is the heart and soul of Bedrock. Moe’s story is the human story. Struggle, grow, thrive. The journey from lost and confused to awake, aware, and clear. Her transformation is available to us all. Bedrock aims to foster and support that transformation in our clients by helping them sort through their “stuff” and grow. As we say around the office, “Our role is to help the tomato become the tomatoey-est tomato that the tomato can be.”