Thriving Blindness

Hand up who is feeling out of control right now?

Probably most of us! As I write this, we are in the midst of an unprecedented set of circumstances: a pandemic which is claiming thousands of lives every day; shortages of basic food and products; schools and public places close; government restrictions on our movement…

If someone had described that scenario to you a year ago, you’d have thought it was the plot of some disaster movie.

Yet here we are. Locked down, surrounded by fear and uncertainty and being asked to act in ways that are really unfamiliar to us. No wonder we feel out of control.

Are you blind to the truth?

We may not have control over our circumstances at the moment but, actually, did we ever? There have always been outside factors which have come along and challenged us in our lives. I certainly have!

We may have felt we were in control but that’s a form of blindness. The majority of us suffer from this blinkered view of life and the impact it has on us is massive. We believe we have mastery over life because we haven’t anticipated what might go wrong.

So, blind to the consequences of our actions, we live a life of ‘now’ and not one preparing us for obstacles ahead.

• We eat quick and easy processed foods – blind to the impact it has on our immunity
• We do the bare minimum of exercise – blind to how we are depleting our body’s natural defences
• We take our relationships for granted – blind to the need to take care of the people around us
• We continue in the job we don’t really like – blind to the impact this is having on our life and those of the people around us.

This may sound harsh but this selective blindness – this detachment for taking ownership of our circumstances – has lefts us vulnerable to the virus that is now spreading across the world and claiming so many lives.

Can you see your own potential?

In may last blog <<hyperlink to last week’s blog>> I spoke about courage. Now, I want you to draw on that courage to the most difficult thing in you life.

To have the courage to be the person you are really capable of being. To see what you need to do to really thrive and live the life you were meant to live.

To open your eyes to the actions you need to take now which will prepare you for the challenges that life will throw in your direction. To do the things you need to do every day, even if you don’t feel like it.

You do have control

You may feel like you are out of control of your life right now. However, there are only two things that have ever been yours to control:

How you think and how you feel.

Your reactions are the only thing you can truly control in life – whatever the circumstances. You can choose to take action, move forward in life, build strength and discipline; or you can choose to stay right where you are and hope that, when something happens in life, you’ll find a way through it.

Which would you prefer?

To decide to act, especially in the face of fear and difficulty… that takes true courage.

If you want my help to find the courage to live up to your potential visit https://petecohen.com/coaching/ to access my free training.