Your mom slipped and fell from the bottom step at the hair salon – you know, the step with the loose bricks – and appears to have broken her ankle. And what’s your first reaction? You want to yell at someone. You want to blame someone. And you do so, loudly, as you head to the emergency room frustrated beyond belief. Your mom is still a little shaken and a little dizzy, and you mention this to the doctor. During the exam the doctor picks up an irregularity in your mom’s heartbeat and guess what? Further testing shows there’s a block in a major artery and off she goes for emergency repair of it.
It was something nobody could have predicted looking at her, but there it was,
a heart attack waiting to happen. Who would ever have guessed?
But what if the whole thing was just the set up.. designed to get someone’s attention?
See where I am going with this?
Adversity is not something in life we can control, nor can we avoid. The one thing we can do however is become more aware of our reaction to it. So when adversity shows up again, rather than look to blame, try taking a step back (literally) from the drama and emotion of it all, and just observe the situation. Stop any reaction to it in its tracks. Then question the situation from every angle.
Why would this possibly be happening now? Is there something there to learn from it? Is your response to these kinds of situations evoking the same frustrating result? Could this just be something to pull you from your comfort zone and help you grow? Or maybe it’s your chance to demonstrate kindness and compassion in the middle of chaos.
© Linda Hannett Coaching, 2015
Wherever the answers to these questions take you, remember that “staunch resistance to a perceived setback is the greatest cause of lost opportunity.” – Linda Hannett Coaching
It takes a certain amount of courage to ride out a seemingly adverse situation with grace. But try it out, observe your reaction and watch it unfold. See any patterns you might want to change? Then go ahead and seize the opportunity!
Until next time,
Linda
