How To Thrive In Challenging Times – Having The Courage To Be Courageous

It will come as no surprise that the theme of this month’s blogs is not the topic I originally planned. I had it all mapped out – I’d recorded podcasts, we’d outlined the blogs, we were good to go.

Then, the world changed so my plans changed with it. As I write this, the world is in lock-down to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and we are living in a time that is outside the experience of us all. So, as we work together to manage in these extreme circumstances, I do my part in the only way I know how – to inspire.

Thriving in challenging times

When we feel threatened, as we do right now, our instinct is to focus on how we can survive. The primal brain leaps into action and it drives us to consume in vast amounts (which explains the panic buying, of course). We see what is going on around us and on the news and that amplifies the fear even further. There is another way, however. We have the opportunity to thrive.

Thrive the verb originates in old Norse and means to grasp or seize. Right now, we have the opportunity to really think differently about where we want to go and what we want to achieve in the world; to seize the future in a way we’ve never done before. To future-cast­ and reach out a grab it.

The science of hope

The vast majority of people right now are living in fear. It’s understandable. In the space of a few weeks, the supermarket shelves went from overflowing to empty, businesses came to a dead stop and jobs didn’t exist any more. No wonder we are afraid.

Yet, we can overcome that fear with hope. No – not vague, woolly hope that ‘things will get better’ and ‘we’ll all be okay’ but the really, tangible hope which is backed by science.

True hope has three components

• Goals – knowing what you want and what life will be like when that is achieved. They are big bold goals focussed on the legacy of your life. They define the cause of your life.
• Agency – having the belief that those goals are going to take you to a better place. You can see the legacy you will leave behind
• Pathways – recognising the multiple routes you may need to take in order to achieve and accepting that you will have to try alternative. If something doesn’t work, you know that there is another way.

For you to live in hope, though, takes courage to think differently.

Having the courage to hope

Can you see how you need courage in every one of those three areas? Courage to set bigger goals? Courage to believe in them? And courage to try and fail and try again? It’s hard, at a time like this, to see beyond the next few weeks and find the hope that we need to thrive.

But it can be done. Lift your thoughts beyond the here and now for a moment and just think about the legacy you could create from this challenging time. There are things you can do which will make a difference. If you can find the courage to act on them, we have the opportunity to change the world.

If you want to find the courage to hope in a community of people who are also seeking to leave a legacy from this time, join my FREE Facebook group https://coaching.petecohen.com/podcast-free-group