Life Chaos: Choosing Growth

Many a human has learned the only constant in life is change. Expectations feed a vision. Then reality shapes the actual course. Along the way, we get a choice: go along for the ride OR grab the wheel for personal growth and development.

You’ve been there before, even at work. The journey takes many forms:

• A client unexpectedly changes direction.
• You work on a proposal for months only to find out the client wants something totally different. Or maybe you learn they had someone else in mind all along.
• One day you knock it out of the park. The next day you drop the ball.
• A team member gets pulled away from the job leaving a gaping hole.
• A colleague has a life change and decides to leave for another job.
• You find the most amazing candidate for a new position.
• Sales soar. Then they tank.

You get the drill. You live it. Daily.

This crucible of life can be our classroom or our closet. The human reality is we experience both extremes.?

But do we recognize this outcome is a choice?

As a 12-year-old, I somehow became a very good hurdler on the Duke City Dashers track team in Albuquerque, NM. I had the odd combination of excelling at the 800 meters and the 50-meter low hurdles. I even qualified for nationals that year in both events.

Training for the hurdles is intense. When you start, you have to come to terms with the fact the hurdles are ALWAYS there. As you approach a hurdle, you quickly understand that you have a choice how to respond: jump it, run through it, run around it, or stop running. The first two options take practice, but they’re the point, really. The last two end up in disqualification. Game over.

Life’s hurdles, those unexpected moments, operate similarly. We need to accept they will ALWAYS be here. Unlike the 50-meter hurdles, though, they show up randomly and, often, have nothing to do with something we have done. Yet, the choice is the same: learn to jump it or run through it.

Jumping a hurdle takes a lot of energy when you start. Your focus is on the hurdle. You jump higher to make sure you get over. Then you start to run to the next hurdle. Between hurdles it is typical to stutter step to make sure you’re lined up just right to clear the next one. Over time, however, your focus shifts to your lane and the finish line. You learn to run, not jump. You practice techniques to bring your leg and then your knee over the hurdle, but you do it in a modified form of sprinting. Eventually, your hardly notice the hurdle. Even when you hit a hurdle, you know how to quickly recover. Your progression does not stop.

We can choose to face life’s hurdles the same way. No matter the hurdle, no matter how big or small, no matter how unexpected or “earned”, our choice is the same. Jump when we have to, but learn to run and then sprint, modifying your movement to adjust seamlessly. Or, we can stop running or try to go around it. When we do, we miss the growth and we end the “race” related to that learning opportunity in front of us.

Focus on your lane and the finish line ahead. But expect hurdles. As you do, choose to adapt and learn. Personal growth will come.