It’s been a month! A year! Most of us are deeply sighing relief. Our Bananagrams brains have a new use for the letter V—vaccine and verdict are front-row words forever imprinted.
Some words, events and people bring life changing significance. Pending perspective, proximity, experience and engagement, our individual reactions to the same situation can bring a multitude of reactions. The classic ten people in a room walk away with ten different stories becomes our personal Netflix series.
Situations that evoke emotions associated with grief, loss, trauma or upheaval cause us to feel unprepared, knocked off our A-game. Some are new, completely unfamiliar to us. Others have us returning to territory we recognize and dread—that space vowed never to return.
How we respond to unplanned situations plays into our well-being. We can choose to respond with a sense of struggle or that of challenge. What’s the difference you ask? The difference lies in pronouns: I and me vs. we and all. When challenge presents itself, the outcome is often one of desire—a desired contribution or state of arrival.
Challenge invites another, a partner, team, community. Being challenged or facing challenges allows us to recognize that we are not alone; we have company. Challenge locates resources, opportune roadmaps and results that are useful, forward thinking, acceptable and worthy of sharing.
Struggle implies we are flying solo. We feel alone, overwhelmed, often in a state of mental paralysis, emotional turmoil and/or physical illness. Looking toward the end, we’re unable to see desirable outcomes. We feel stuck, disconnected, misunderstood—isolated from another.
Struggling focuses on the me, the I, vs. leveraging the all within challenge. Challenge has us moving forward toward desire; we recognize we have a sea of supporters and a toolbox of resources. Struggling has us spiraling downward, falling alone into an abyss of dread—feeling we have limited knowledge and skill access to pull ourselves up and out.
Words matter; they define our perspective. When you’re in a new space, check in to determine if you’re in a state of struggle or challenge. If you’re struggling, needing help shifting from dread, defining desire and creating a useful roadmap, call me, 612-405-6070.
enJOY, Mary
Contemplate:
Converting Struggle to Challenge
- How can I see, be, do, live and give differently as I contemplate this situation?
- Am I allowing myself to receive the compassion I need and deserve during this time
- What is the hidden or obvious generosity associated with this struggle?
- What am I surrounded in that returns me to a state of gratitude as my compass?
- How can I use grace to navigate through this event?
