As most of you know, I’m not a George W. Bush supporter. But last night, I was thinking about him in a way that elicited more compassion and concern for him than I’ve ever felt in my life. Why? Because I was thinking, “What must it be like to have to publicly HAND OVER the reins to the presidency while your successor (the brand new darling) is creating such a stir that the general public has mentally ousted you from office before your term is even finished?”

To go from being the head of everything—with the world leaning on your every word and thought, to being the guy shoved out the back door for the new guy that’s just eclipsed you and ushered in “A Brand New Age”? That’s gotta hurt!

I was thinking, what must it be like to have to stand there, in front of MILLIONS of people who are THRILLED you’re leaving? Or, to ask a more useful question, what kind of growth does it take so that that situation DOESN’T hurt?

It reminds me of being a graduating senior in high school and having the juniors be like, “You know, I’d love to hang out with you, but since you’re about to be gone for good and not in my high school reality anymore, I’m gonna bypass any further contact with you in favor of those others who are staying.” I mean, ouch! It’s not like you’re dead, you’re just moving on to other things.

If your opinion of yourself is based on public opinion, then a situation like that could LEVEL you. If your view of yourself is based on the role you’re leaving behind (whether you want to leave it behind or not), the transition could seriously mess with you. When you go from people hanging on your every word 24/7 to those same people looking at you, saying, “Know what? I’m done. I’m sick of you and I’m SO happy to move on to someone else and forget you were ever here,” if you’re not grounded in who you are and confident and happy with yourself, a change like that could kill a person.

So how do you change the dynamic of the situation from one of everyone deserting you to YOU moving from one activity to another? What kind of preparation is necessary when your old life dries up and it’s time for you to live a new one that (hopefully!) will measure up to the one you’re, clearly, never going to have again?

The answer to that, obviously, is individual—and is a process, especially if you didn’t start out life so thoroughly grounded in yourself that transitions like these don’t bother you. But it definitely speaks to the necessity of having a full and satisfying life BEYOND whatever temporary situation you’re leaving.

I can’t imagine the potential ego blow of handing the presidency, the White House, the Oval Office, over to someone as historically blinding as Barack Obama. I’ll have to trust that Bush’s life has prepared him for this day—that he’s got the stamina to become someone standing in the way of the camera shot of the new President. But, perhaps he’s done his internal work, like my clients have, to be so satisfied with his life that moving on feels like freedom, and not like being shoved to the back of the line, your name, rank, and file number forgotten in the glow of the person taking your place.

Tags: Barack Obama, being replaced, Celebrity, celebrity has been, George W. Bush, Inauguration, Obama, president of the united states, stepping down, U.S. President

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 11:09 am and is filed under Competition, Ego, Insecurity, Self-Esteem. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.