Path: mv.asterisco.pt!mvalente
From: mvale…@ruido-visual.pt (Mario Valente)
Newsgroups: mv
Subject: Seasons in Life
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 07 19:27:21 GMT
I’m sure you’re all aware of the fact that the
year is roughly divided into four (4) seasons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season
I myself have felt the same 4-season-division
in my entrepreneurial endeavours as well as in
my life. If you picture a sinusoidal wave, there’s
a phase where (1) its going up, (2) you’re on the
top, (3) you’re coming down and (4) you’ve hit
rock bottom.
This, by the way, is one of the big-major-mega
difficulties in being an entrepreneur. When you
work for others, your life tends to be a straight
line trending upwards. When you’re an entrepreneur,
the trend and the endpoint is the same (generally
speaking; you do have a shot at a major success…),
but the progress is not a straight line; it waves
around the trendline, with inevitable and regular
highs and inevitable and regular downs. Some people
cant deal with that; I myself can tell you its not
an easy task.
So imagine my surprise when wandering about the
net I found the same principle of four (4) phases
applied to eras (bunch of years) and to generations.
http://www.lifecourse.com/method/turnings.php
http://www.lifecourse.com/method/archetypes.php
Just for the record I was born during an Awakening
(1964-1984) and we’re currently under an Unravelling.
In generation terms I’m a Generation 13/Generation X
and I should be a Prophet under the above proposed types.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X#13th_generation
(A side note to remember that one of my favorite bands,
Saga, have an amazing album called “Generation 13”)
http://www.sagaontour.ca/
http://www.dprp.net/proghistory/index.php?i=1995_02
http://www.amazon.com/Generation-13-Saga/dp/B00000D9TV
I also find that relationships and friendships, and
partnerships in particular, also seem to follow this four
season rule. First there’s a phase of Idolatry, where one
of the parts is surprised and honored by the other’s
availability and friendship; a second phase is one of
Equality, where the previously surprised part asserts
and assumes (and rightly so) that there’s no need to
be surprised, honored or obliged, since he or she is, in
fact, an equal in a symetrical relation; unfortunately
this eventually turns into a third phase, shall we call
it Arrogance, where the equality thinking becomes “I’m
actually the most important part of this relationship,
I dont owe anything to the other part and actually I’m
probably being exploited” (aka the “I can go it alone”
phase in partnerships); the fourth phase, lets call it
the Hindsight phase, usually comes after a few years or
a few knocks through reality, is one where the previously
arrogant part understands that he was indeed part of an
equality (and indeed something was owed because of that
recognition of capacity and equality) which is now broken,
never to be repeated, forgiven maybe,but not forgotten.
I’ve had the repetition of these 4 phases with several
friends, partners and even family. I guess its part of
the natural order of things. I guess that my reasoning
can even be extended to everyone’s child/parent relations,
including mine with my father, now deceased.
What’s been surprising to me is that these four phases
used to happen in a 3 or 4 year cycle. Lately they’ve
been happening to me faster, within 1 to 2 year cycles.
Either everything is moving faster or I’m getting older
and slower…
— MV
