Disorientation and Inevitable Transformation
These days, it feels like almost nothing makes sense. Much of what we see and hear on the news is dystopian to the ‘Nth’ degree. Surely, I cannot be the only person that feels utterly disoriented these days.
Let’s take refuge in what we can control. The choices we make today will impact how we are orienting ourselves tomorrow. And so on, down the line. We’re now more mindful of our local and global context, because we’ve never been more connected to endless repositories of information. It’s overwhelming by design. I feel I have had to take a step back from the media to prioritize how I’m feeling and thinking about what is going on in the world around me.
Our lived experiences and interests naturally inform what is more or less relevant for each of us as individuals. I have to believe that through these incredibly dark times we’re living through, this moment is a wake up call for unity, not division. No person is an island. There is clear disproportionate access to resources and quality of life – which shapes an appropriate ‘us versus them’ narrative. And yet, we cannot deny that we are more connected, reliant, and similar to one another than we’ve ever been.
These days, it feels like my attention is being pulled in all sorts of different directions and yet societally there is a conscious inhibition that alienates us from our natural drives. I’ve always been an optimist, or at the very least, I’ve believed that the truly horrible things that I’ve lived through have offered me wisdom and lessons that make things better in the long run.
In the past, I’ve run from the opportunities to grow that difficult circumstances have brought before me. I’ve initially denied transformations that proved to be inevitable. The ego gripped me, wanting me to remain unchanged through everything that happens in life. That is not living in an optimistic way, though. And all of what is happening in the world has me reflecting on all the ways that my values and actions have been out of sync.
I feel that really being an optimist means that one takes meaningful action with intention, especially in times of great fear and uncertainty. Being an optimist means being able to trust the moment and my capacity to handle it. Being an optimist means letting go of that which gripped you, and to be able to be okay with having been wrong about something in your life. Or maybe you feel that this moment in modern history is leading you to make more radical transformations in your life, because suddenly you feel like you’ve been wrong about almost everything in your life.
The facts, as far as I can tell are, that our time here is finite and we must make it count. We must do all we can to sharpen ourselves, and add value wherever we can. So much growth comes when we let go of what we think we know. Challenges can become opportunities if we are willing to change how we see them and allow them to change how we see ourselves.
