The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances to add a deeper meaning to his life.
— Victor Frankl
Neurologist, psychiatrist, holocaust survivor, and author of “Man’s Search for Meaning”
We experience change and transformation in our lives all of the time but not as noticeably as a collective shift affects the collective society. Will we pull together or will the stress of the situation pull us apart?
With a career focusing on change and organizational development, I know that individuals don’t like change. Frequently, they resist it, have a high attachment to the status quo, and yet, they are changing and evolving all the time. The primary reason we don’t leap to run head-first and embrace change is because it’s always happening and we would rather arrive someplace where we can sit, pause, draw a breath, and settle for a while. Our lives and conversations are peppered with comments like:
• “When I retire.”
• “When I get married.”
• “When we are empty-nesters.”
• “When I graduate.”
And on, and on and on. Our focus is to arrive at our destination and be able to stop and settle for a while. But what we discover is that our lives are constantly in flux and we are constantly living through transitions in life and at work.
So, being aware of this, I know that we are able to be adaptable and change-ready. We may more slowly, even with hesitation, move in the direction of the needed change — but move we do. Some of the change we experience moves at a glacier-like pace. The current situation. However, is an immediate game-changer that has tipped our tables, upset everything, and propelled us headlong into a new normal.
It is this kind of disruption that makes for great innovation. Things we thought we might do in the future are needed today and so we make the leap without too much struggle. This is the benefit to be realized if we seize the opportunity.
That was my rumination today as I asked one more person to share their thoughts on how they are engaging in this marathon of change called COVID 19.
Sara, a pastor of a small church, is a runner and a to-be-counted-on leader. And yet, she is not immune to experiencing the hardships caused by a world crisis. She confessed that last week was difficult for her and yet she arrives here at the beginning of a new week more grounded. Sara said she could relate to the metaphor of marathon to describe her feelings. When asked “How did she get grounded and back in the race?” she was quick to say:
“I always need a mantra, especially when I am running. I need an uplifting phrase to keep my pace and forward motion. In the past it was, ‘I did enough.’ And now that is too narrow. It is not just about my productivity but my well-being and balance. I may slip into over working if it is only about the doing. But if I am to go the distance my mantra will have to be, ‘I am enough.’ “
It makes me smile thinking of this mantra. I am of the generation that was raised with the story of The Little Engine That Could. I have been heard chanting to myself, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”
I like Sara’s mantra and think I will join her in a chorus of “I am enough.”
She didn’t stop there with her use of the metaphor.
“If you are to go the distance you will have to run from marker to marker and not hold the vision of the whole race but simply visualize the next watering stop or mile marker. When the end is in the distance and unable to be seen, make your way from sign post to sign post.”
Sara volunteered that this situation requires daily prioritization. She somewhat proudly said she is even getting really good at refining priorities— from knowing that not everything will get done but to knowing what needs to get done is essential.
Sara also encourages us
“ . . . to walk when we need to. To be okay in the moment. To pause. Breath. Shift gears. And walk until you can run again.”
And in her own way she reminded me to stop and smell the roses on the path.
It was Sara who then posed the question that is carrying me in a new thought direction. Sara asked, “What are you discovering about yourself at this time that you want to hold on to and carry into the new normal? What will you leave behind that no longer serves you? “
More to ponder as our current crisis — our marathon of change — requires the best of our life training and births new lessons that we may need tomorrow.
Leslie
“When the end is in the distance
and unable to be seen,
make your way from
sign post to sign post.”
—Pastor Sara