Reunions and Re-vertigo

It has been a very busy few months, but this last weekend I had the good fortune to step out of my regular life and switch off my brain.

I am a very lucky person. Not only do I have a wonderful family, colleagues and friends that I have known since our kids were in primary school. I also still have a connection to 25 year old Trace. Back then, I was living overseas. It was before mobile phones and internet, so there was minimal family support. Day to day, the only people we had to rely on, celebrate our wins or commisserate our losses was ourselves, and our flatmates: a ragtag bunch of Aussies and Kiwis from all sorts of backgrounds that always had our backs and who knew where all the secrets were buried. It may have sometimes seemed like a revolving door of newbies, but these wonderful humans were the “family” I selected and I still cherish. Our bond was cemented by being a long way from home and tattoed onto our souls through shared experience. We were fuelled by laughter, fun and a touch of misbehavior and these fierce friendships made me who I am. These are the people I spent last weekend with.

Twenty of us gathered in Adelaide for a weekend of silliness. Misbehaviour may have also been on the menu. We are many decades older, but when we are together, we still feel 25. I’ve decided that is inevitable because of re-vertigo. You know the feeling. Like when your kids have left home and have being living independently for years, but they come to stay with you and they immediately revert to being teenage slobs. That’s re-vertigo. Or in my case, I go to a school reunion and still freeze up and say something stupid to the hottest guy in our grade. That’s re-vertigo. It describes all those situations where we fall back into our old habits and behaviors of a past familiar time and place. In most cases, these lapses are harmless, maybe a little weird, but oh so comfortable. But this weekend got me thinking about whether business owners suffer from re-vertigo as well.

It’s a given that growing a small business is hard. The constant brain power required to keep innovating and adapting to achieve growth takes up an inordinate amount of time and energy. Then you have the core business to complete or supervise on top of that. Sometimes the pressure can be too much. Are there times when our clients feel overwhelmed, suffer from re-vertigo and slip back into past bad habits? Maybe back to when the business first started and their problems were simpler. Certainly, I think we have a few examples of this behaviour in the Appy stable. So what can we do about it? Just like when our grown up kids complain there is nothing in the fridge to eat, all we can do is look for the stress signs, support them and hand them a piece of fruit. Whether it’s misbehaviour, misdemeanours or misspeaking, we assure them we will always be there to help them to the next stage beyond regression.

Speaking of reunions, in the ongoing saga of being between homes, I am living in Perth for a few weeks. I have my office in my backpack so it’s no holiday. But it has given me the opportunity to catch up with my wonderful ex-assistant, Tyrone. About 18 month ago he cruelly dumped Appy Books to build a career in the Navy. I guess that’s forgivable. It’s great to see they have been looking after him and that he’s still a happy camper bringing sunshine to wherever he works. Well done, Ty. You'll be a huge success wherever you go.

As for London reunions, I can’t wait for the next one. I just need a nap and a berocca and I’ll be good to go!

Stay ‘Appy!