Embracing Adversity, Part 1: Vision
Determining Our Vision
Of the five senses, our vision might be one that (in my opinion) is often taken too much for granted. There is something about a sunrise on top of a mountain, or a sunset over the ocean. Aside from breath-taking views, our eyes serve as an inherent guide – triggering a series of reactions and ultimately an output. Vision puts our thoughts into action, puts things in perspective, and helps us to see the way.
For some, our vision matures to a point where we can maintain a sharp vision, having the ability to hone in on specific words, objects, and symbols. This provides us with the ability to recognize and to make sense of what our eyes are looking at. Unfortunately, there are also others whose vision moves in the opposite direction, slowly deteriorating to the point that it’s difficult to read the words on a screen or see what’s ahead. Sometimes these conditions can be corrected, and at other times they can’t.
Take the latter of these two situations as an example of an adverse condition - adversity if you will. Although, I find it ironic that the concept of determining a vision for something which has yet to be attained does not require the physical ability to see the end goal. However, it requires our ability to creatively construct an image in our minds of what it might look and feel like when we attain what it is that we are after.
When I first wrote about vision in the ‘Complex Change’ series, I used a definition for vision, and I believe it still holds relevance in the context of embracing adversity. So, I will share it again here.
Vision is much deeper than surface level and certainly more complex than black and white images. It requires us to perceive something far off in the distance, perhaps not even in our immediate field of view. Sometimes defined as ‘the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be’. That which will or may come true is the vision, and arriving there is the result of taking action and working with the end in mind.
In our lives, adversity is going to come at us from all angles. And, as we begin to digest what is happening, there is a good chance we will find ourselves asking (when uncertain):
“How in the hell am I going to get through this?”
Or, we might even make a statement such as this:
"I just want it to be over already."
Have you ever made these remarks? I know I have… plenty of times. Then, I realized that my ability to get beyond these initial thoughts was indicative of my ability to embrace what I was dealing with. In other words, it was important to remove these negative thoughts as early in the process as possible.
At this point, it’s our opportunity to determine the vision for moving forward. This is a matter of identifying exactly where we want to be and exactly what needs to be embraced. More importantly, we must ask ourselves, ‘why’, because we will never arrive at where it is we need to be if we don’t know where it is that we want to go.
The Role of Vision for Embracing Change
When we determine our vision for where we want to end up in the midst of adversity, even more critical than knowing where we want to go, is knowing where we are. Another way of stating it is ‘understanding our here in order to get to our there’.
The reason it’s important to know our current position is because it will allow us to more efficiently prepare and ‘climb the mountain’. Instead of just climbing straight up to reach the top, it might actually be easier to make our way around the bend and back and forth a few times before going vertical.
If we aren’t aware of our ‘here’, then getting to our ‘there’ will be more challenging, require more effort, and force us into situations in which we probably aren’t prepared. There are three reasons for using this process in determining our vision while embracing change.
Reason 1: Removing the Obstacles:
Being able to identify where we are relative to where we want to go allows us to process and think through what obstacles we could face on the journey, understand how to remove the obstacles, or be prepared to handle them if we can’t remove them. Remove what isn’t working, latch to what is, and be willing to fall with the intention of getting back up. Obstacles may not always be physical in nature. Hell, an obstacle could merely be time or urgency. Regardless, it’s important to eliminate them, and don’t let them be the sticking point. At a minimum, reduce the obstacles to what you know you can manager.
Reason 2: Going Against the Grain
Climbing a mountain is not easy. Step after step, it requires patience and persistence. Reaching the stop of a mountain requires hundreds and thousands of steps on terrain that utilizes muscles that we don’t typically use when walking on a flat surface. In this way, going up a mountain goes against the ‘normal’ walking pattern of a person. Physical strength is one thing, but the mental and emotional capacity is much different when stepping on, over, up, and around rocks, trees, and other mountainous features. What does this mean? It means that managing and embracing adversity can be draining. In many ways, it requires doing the opposite of what the body is used to, going against the grain if you will. However, determining a vision helps minimize the extent to which we wear ourselves down because we have prepared in advance.
Reason 3: Understanding Root Cause
Adversity isn’t something that we always know is coming in our direction. Certainly, there are times when we make personal decisions that we know could result in more challenging circumstances, however, in these circumstances our vision has likely been determined well in advance. We don’t always have the ability to know how we will react in the face of adversity because it’s relative to the person who is experiencing it. When we react, because we will, it’s our responsibility to identify what the root cause was behind this new-found adversity. Chances are, it is something more than the ‘last thing that happened to me (us)’. Perhaps the ‘last thing’ was just another symptom of a root cause, and the ‘last thing’ is what created the spiral effect. If our intention is to arrive at our vision, then it’s imperative that we get to the root of the issue. If not, then we will be running in circles.
Determining our vision in the face of adversity helps set the tone for the remainder of the journey. Understandably, it’s easy to want to begin up the mountain full speed ahead. But in doing so, what are we after? Do we even know and are we prepared?
The Implications of Not Having a Vision
As is the case with most processes, there is a series of steps, and sometimes a flow, that the system should follow in order to produce a desired result. If under any circumstance, one portion of the process is skipped, then it is going to alter the end result (for better or worse).
The same concept holds true for embracing adversity. I have come up with the following 'equation' that incorporates the five steps (characteristics) that tend to be most effective when we find ourselves being challenged.
Vision + Desire + Relationships + Patience + Celebration = Embracing
When we decide to embrace adversity, all five of these components play a crucial role. Personally, I believe the first two characteristics could be in either location, as they set the tone for what is to follow.
With any math equation, when one number or digit is different, the answer will vary - sometimes more significantly than at other times. So, the question becomes, 'what is the result of attempting to embrace adversity when we don't have a vision'?
_______ + Desire + Relationships + Patience + Celebration = No Direction
Imagine being blindfolded, taken to the middle of the woods, dropped off, and told to wait there for two hours before exiting the forest. Sure, the direction of the sun, the way the river flows, or the wind patterns may help get you to safety, but can you imagine the struggles (physically and mentally) that we will have to overcome in order to make our way out? Even if we make it out, who's to say it will be the place we wanted to make it to?
In many ways, we're shooting in the dark when we remove the vision from our ability to embrace adversity. As stated earlier, our vision allows us to be efficient in a process, and without it, we not only increase uncertainty, but we increase the risk factor.
Remove our 'vision' and we have eliminated any sense of our 'here' and our 'there'. Without understanding these elements, we will miss out on building the foundation for the remaining four characteristics of embracing adversity.
I'm going to close this article with a few questions to think about. The truth is, we are each facing adversity in our lives at the present. On a piece of paper, write down the following questions and answer them honestly:
- What adversity in my life have I been facing, or am facing today, that I would like to embrace?
- What is my 'here' and what caused it? (Be as specific as possible.)
- What is my 'there' and why is it desirable? (Be as specific as possible.)
- How will my life be different as a result of my ability to embrace this adversity?
Moving forward, spend some time thinking about your answers.
Whatever your responses, you can overcome them.
This adversity is possible to manage.
Why?
Because Today is Possible.