Sidebar

I’ve been obsessively watching streamed tv shows. The other night, while asleep and dreaming, this one word just popped in to my head - SIDEBAR.

This is the way the creative mind likes to work. It gives me a keyword and says yes this is significant. Now, go figure out why.

In a court of law, a sidebar is an opportunity for a sidebar conversation between the judge and law teams but not to be heard by the jury (decision makers). The jury is out of earshot of what is being said so as not to impact the jury’s thoughts or opinions one way or another.

In life, I see sidebars as opportunities for us to learn from a mentor, a sponsor, a coach, a family member, a friend, a colleague. Sidebars are those moments where it is an intimate conversation about you and your life, that you’re not yet willing to shout to the rooftops yet.

So life is full of sidebars. Notes. Moments. Discoveries. How can we be a world that creates more of these kinds of opportunities? Opportunities for people to have courage and be brave about what they want to do with their lives.

We don’t learn this stuff anywhere. School is not a place where you can philosophise over what you imagine yourself to become or how you want the world to be.

Where are the sidebars at school? I was lucky. I went to high school with lots of opportunities to think differently. But it’s curious isn’t it that if you think differently, in this world, it’s called inclusion and diversity.

At my high school having your own say was ok. You were not ridiculed for having your own thoughts and opinions. I am realising now, that’s how I have become who I have become.

I have a different worldview. I’m constantly challenging the perspectives I have. And I’m never satisfied with I’m right.

Sidebars are also opportunities for you try on something your passionate about. We call them side hustles. They’re only side hustles because we are not yet courageous enough to say THIS IS my gig.

See a state of being or ways of being is not out of reach for us. If I said to you be an author, of course, that feels like a stretch, it’s out of reach. But if I said be connected, be authentic, it’s within reach.

We didn’t grow up learning about this. We can give ourselves the lessons now. Turn your sidebars in to the things that move you and shake you and fill your life with opportunities and possibilities.

In a court of law, sidebars can be powerful and dangerous, a ticking time bomb, no one knows you’re working on this and one day kaboom out you come with your explosive ideas.

Take on the context that life is a game. Since I love my analogies so much, there’s only so much you can do from the sidelines, you have to move on to the court to implement your play. Watch people from the sidelines, they’re itching to get on to the court. But there is also something key about starting at the sidelines, because you can see what's missing from the sidelines, so sometimes starting at the sidelines helps you see the bigger picture.

When will it be your turn to get out on the court?