Who Are We In Tough Times?

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

It seems to me that there are two kinds of people when the going gets tough. Those who panic and freeze. And those who manage their emotions and keep doing. This latter group is the group I think we all want to be part of.

Now, note that I didn’t say they stay calm, rather that they manage their emotions. Getting emotional and stressing out is, at least to me, a pretty natural human emotion. I’m not sure we can completely eliminate that response reflex. But I do think we can learn to manage those emotions, and thereby keep them in check.

How? 

Well, I think this comes from knowledge, which in turn usually comes from experience, whether we’ve been through crises ourselves or whether we’ve seen others go through it. Either way, we’ve grappled with the fact that things can turn bad and that it’s entirely possible to get through those bad times. 

And that the way we were able to get through was via belief, intent and action. We had to believe that we could get through this and that there was an “other side” to get to, which was better. We had to decide to have the intent to get to that other side - a conscious decision. And then we had to take action - to actually do something. 

Which is why I used the words “keep doing”, as opposed to “keep going”. It’s a small difference but it’s intentional. It implies a conscious direct effort to do things that make a difference, as opposed to simple momentum that can go in any direction. 

Manage emotions and keep doing.

By the way, I’m not suggesting that folks don’t move from one camp to the other. There are too many variables in life to prescribe any such characterization in these stark terms. I do think one can learn to be better, and not least because I think we don’t have any choice but to believe in some sort of forward momentum. 

As I once read, Hell is a terrible place to be, so it’s important that we don’t stop there.