Empowerment through Adversity

A tiny virus disrupted everyday life. The world shut down. “Stay at home” or “shelter in place” orders went into effect overnight. Some businesses received the designation of “essential” while others received the brush-off. Each day seemed to add a new tenant to a really bad dream, but we didn’t wake up to “normalcy.”

If you followed every step of the media’s coverage of the situation, you likely experienced every emotion from shock, fear, disbelief, panic, outrage, and maybe, at times, even relief. 

Very early on, I decided NOT to feed into panic and fear by not following every new “discovery” the mainstream media proclaimed. One of the marketing coaches I listen to refers to the media as “weapons of mass distraction.” The media is a for-profit industry, driven by ratings. This self-service offers few if any, solutions. As the chaos and panic increase, so do their profit margins.

Fact: Most of the time, we are powerless to change external situations that affect our lives. However, each one of us possesses the capability to change our response to any situation. Obstacles test our ability to overcome adversity. Obstacles give us opportunities to see more possibilities!

When you turn off the negative influences, your focus shifts to more important things.

• Family time – cooking together, playing outside, game nights, movie marathons, and reading together.
• Investing in yourself – keep a gratitude journal, listen to motivational speakers, self-development, and start or work on your home-based business.
• Investing in others – call, text, video chat, send an “old-fashioned” note in the mail to others. Offer to provide a meal or service for someone you know is in need. Better yet, provide a random act of kindness for a stranger (pay for the person behind you in the drive-thru, slip some cash in a diaper box the next time you go shopping). You never know what someone else is going through. Your act of kindness might change someone else’s life.

What path do you want to follow? What do you want your story to be? No matter what you choose, remember that you alone can make it a good one.