5 Lessons to Learn from Challenging Times
It was a tough decision for me, but at the last minute I had to cancel all of my appointments the week after Hurricane Ida hit. I evacuated, my family and friends were displaced, and I did not know the state of my home or how the city of New Orleans would recover, if ever. Flashbacks of Hurricane Katrina returned, along with the shock, sadness and anxiety of the unknown. Or perhaps, because I had personally survived Katrina, my brain thought it did know, and triggered the emotions that sent me into a whirlwind of catastrophizing.
I was fortunate to stay in a house with strong Wifi and had evacuated with my computer and client files, and yet, I could not focus. I know that to coach well, I need to be fully present. I need to be 1000% with my clients to connect and collaborate with them. In came the typical Turbo Thinker inner critic who shamed me, an ADHD coach!, who could not regulate her emotions and get her prefrontal cortex back in gear. At that moment, I decided that I could not risk disappointing my clients. I would just have to disappoint myself. I also went ahead and canceled my volunteer engagements, apologizing for broken promises. How I hated sending all those messages. And yet, what I received in return was loads of understanding, emails, phone calls and text messages full of love and support. Not one single person expected anything of me that week. And even though it felt like at least a month, I could accept that despite my inability to work as usual, I had the capacity to both receive and give love. Once I switched my focus from fear to love, the inner critic disappeared, washed away with the rain and the wind. My brain engaged again, with creative solutions magically unfolding. I switched from victim to innovator. I could see endless possibilities.
When we experience fear, how can we shift our focus to love? How can we trust the magic is there?