The Opportunities in Difficulties

Have you ever had the experience of being thrown into an emergency and doing what had to be done to get through it, only to fall apart afterward? 

It seems to me that is what’s happening to a lot of people right now.  Somehow, we drew on our resources over the past year-and-a-half to weather the COVID storm and now, as the crisis begins to abate, we’re falling apart.  I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Derek Thompson, writing for The Atlantic in an article entitled “What Quitters Understand About the Job Market”, stated, “’a major crisis has a way of exposing what is broken and giving a new generation of leaders a chance to build something better’—often in surprising ways. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 contributed to the invention of the modern skyscraper; the East Coast blizzard of 1888 led to the first American subway system. The COVID-19 pandemic killed 600,000 people and led to a paradigm shift in workers’ power might not sound like a particularly obvious cause-and-effect. But our responses to disasters can change the world in ways that are hard to foresee when we stare into the maw of the original crisis.”

While he’s writing about more widespread changes, I think we as individuals can also take this period of time as an opportunity to bravely look at what isn’t working in our lives and make some fundamental changes.  Those changes may be major, such as a career change or ending a relationship or they may be smaller, yet still very important, such as taking time to pause each day to appreciate the silence and stillness and beauty that’s waiting for us.

Much has been written about how the hardships of life can actually hone our appreciation for life itself and the good things it holds.  What if we take this time of recalibration after the pandemic as an opportunity to truly appreciate what’s working well in our lives and unflinchingly face that which isn’t?

Perhaps now is the ideal opportunity for stepping out of the complacency of the “good enough” life or the “pursuit of stuff” life and into a fuller, richer life you’re meant to embrace, with all of its challenges, growth edges, and opportunities.  What will you choose?