From the Editor

Change is inevitable. Change can be good and change can be bad. It can make things easier to make them more difficult. It can make things easier or make them more difficult. It can be caused by growth or it can be caused by debilitation. Sometimes it is completely out of our control and sometimes it is up to us to make it happen.

Lakestyle is now in its sixth year of production and its seventh year of business. We felt that success should be celebrated with a few changes and updates. That being the case I got to thinking about change in general. It is such a mysterious and sometimes frightening concept. But like it or not, change is constant.

The idea of making a dramatic change sounds great right around the New Year. We often go on a diet, some of us begin to exercise, some start reading books or begin a self improvement program, some of us try to organize our files and cabinets or perhaps our calendars. It is a wonderful feeling to being anew.

January, often cold, and February, often cloudy, drag on and leave in their wake a certain amount of drudgery that makes it difficult to keep your eye on the prize. Simply looking at a cookie, or an overwhelming pile of paper, or running short on time can chase those goals away in a moment. March arrives and we often realize we’re no closer to our goal than the day we started working on it. What happened? And how do other people achieve their goals? How do they make a change?

I believe that change often happens in such small increments that we aren’t even aware it’s happening, and can only really see it when we look back and see what has changed. Like a child who grows up, we don’t see it happening, and yet it does. Slowly, over the course of many years they grow up. I wonder if that is how most successful changes occur; slowly, bit by bit, over time.

Our lives are made up of a series of choices. Often times we want to change by making one enormous choice, but it’s too big to maintain successfully. Perhaps if we were to make a change simply by altering a few small choices we would have more success. Some lake home owners maintain control over their invasive weeds by having scuba divers pull them out one by one. Over the course of time, the weeds are gone. I once read that you can lose ten pounds a year y cutting out 100 calories a day. I realize that ten pounds isn’t a miracle diet, but cutting out 100 calories each day sounds very manageable. I’ve watched my children learn to read by learning one letter each week. Again that sounds very manageable and they have had great success. I have a friend who plants one tree in her yard each year. It keeps both the cost and work to a minimum. Now, years after she began, she has a beautiful yard full of trees that her children can play beneath. Maybe you can’t have your entire rolodex of friends spend time with you at the cabin this summer, but you could manage to set aside one or two weekends. Each of these is a wonderful example of how great change can be made one step at a time. Ten years ago we began to dream about a magazine such as Lakestyle. The dreaming was a lot of fun. The steps it took to make it a reality were nearly infinite. Some days it seemed so overwhelming that one step was all we could take, and others were so charged with excitement that we were able to take many. The point is, by taking it one step at a time with our goal in mind, we were able to make it happen. When we look back at ten years of work we are amazed at all the changes we have slowly made in an effort to grow and make things better. You may have noticed some of our recent changes here at Lakestyle; one of those is reflected in our masthead/logo. I love this new look and am continually impressed with our graphic art department for its dedication to excellence, particularly with regard to our covers, and that excellence is reflected in our changes. One of our writers, Lee Hoedl, commented that the word “Lake” is strong and beautiful like a lake itself, and the newly-italicized word “style” is consistent with how the lake can help you to unwind and become more relaxed. I love the analogy. As you look out at your lake you may not even see the small changes that are occurring; the ice may be melting, the fish laying eggs, boats are being readied, and yet they are certainly happening. They may be subtle, small and quiet, but they are happening. If you’re ready to make a change, take your cues from the lake by making it one step at a time. If you’ve been forced to make a change you didn’t welcome, perhaps you can face it by taking a small step as well. In the slowness of the process perhaps you will receive peace, like the feeling of springtime fog over a lake as the ice melts into our summer playground. There can be good ahead from the changes that are happening now. Each time I am faced with change I find peace in the familiar prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. By Reinhold Niebuhr

I would simply add to take it one small, manageable step at a time, and we’ll continue to do the same in an effort to make Lakestyle better each issue.

                                                      Celebrating life on the water,

 

Nancy Henke, Editor

By Nancy Henke

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