When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor Frankl
This quote comes to me in the evening via my Instagram feed and calls me to breathe it in. And exhale.
I’ve been dancing around this thought as I’ve considered the pace of change at work recently. Despite the fact that I’m bored out of my mind the second things start to slow down or seem static, I still feel on edge anytime big changes happen. And as a relatively small, fast-paced, growing software company big changes happen at a faster clip. People who do well with us thrive off that — they keep growing with us, they’re flexible and adaptable like the leaf in the wind (there’s a Legend of Korra reference for us). I’m one of those people who’s done well, so in this regard, I am those things too. But I don’t think I am those things naturally.
The only constant is change. One of the dad-isms I grew up on. Yet, I was the one who threw a fit if we changed any family tradition by a hair. (And if you do something twice, it is a tradition).
I learned though. Am learning.
Most recently I came back from my week of staycation with an attitude that was both determined to recommit to work and see some big goals through while having a more laissez-faire attitude towards certain changes. When you make everything a battle, your days turn into a war you’re mostly waging with yourself. And the truth was there was no need to armor up. Change can be healthy (in this case it is). It just takes a little sitting with, a little acceptance, a little chance.
I like the phrase “challenged to change ourselves”. It makes me think of Brené Brown and her reminder that we must always be willing to own our part. It makes me thing of the book Extreme Ownership and the leadership and growth inherent in ultimate accountability. It makes me think of meditating, every day, finding the blue sky for even a minute in a world that can look like it’s going to rain fire forever.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
It’s a pretty way to say attitude is everything. Prettier, even, because it’s true.
With Love,
Natalie