Coping with Your Reaction to Change ~ Embracing the Unexpected

Change! Disruption! Reorganization! Augh!!!!!

Wouldn’t it be nice if life flowed smoothly, at a comfortable pace, with changes for which you’re prepared? Lovely daydream, isn’t it?

Life can feel totally out of control sometimes and is constantly throwing us curveballs. People and organizations change their priorities, schedules, alliances, locations and just about everything else you consider rock solid. Pandemics happen!

There are definitely changes over which we have some degree of control, but with many, we have zero jurisdiction.  We can feel overwhelmed. However, we are not powerless. 

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response, lies our growth and our freedom.”

This quote is from Victor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Nazi concentration camp survivor. He witnessed unspeakable atrocities and could have been justifiably bitter. Instead, he chose to use what he learned about human nature to help himself and others search for meaning and happiness. 

Rather than focusing on his emotional reaction, Dr. Frankl focused on his response…

…which incorporates both reaction and thought. When something overwhelming, sad or negative occurs in our lives, we naturally have an emotional reaction. But then we have a choice. We can choose to live within that reaction or decide to respond in a way that can lead to healing for ourselves — and perhaps others.

I find Victor Frankl tremendously inspiring. Events out of my control happen every day, and if I consider his response to his excruciating past, I know I can respond more positively and more quickly to my own MUCH smaller problems.

I look at my own response to the pandemic lockdown: though frustrated, I took the opportunity to read more, walk outside almost daily, embrace virtual meetings and reconnect with friends and family. You may have responded to the lockdown with similar adaptations. I hope you also find Dr. Frankl to be an inspiration for the next challenge.

~ Tracey

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Fundamental of the Week #23: PRACTICE RECOVERY 

When mistakes or errors in judgment happen, own it. Communicate to the appropriate parties, acknowledge your accountability, and set corrective steps in motion. Get back in the game quickly.

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