Navigating a Crisis

Having turned 43 a few weeks ago, officially completing 25 years of societal "Adulthood", I have been through many ups & downs over this long period, both personally and professionally. This ride through life has been tumultuous, gratifying, overwhelming at times but largely a series of waves - periods of immense joy, learning's, erudition interspersed with varying amounts of melancholy, challenges & pitfalls. At this juncture, I look back at the seemingly impossible crises which felt insurmountable at the time, with a smile - that they were perhaps necessary for an individual evolution of character and my belief in the phrase "This Too Shall Pass" only grows stronger each day. Sounds clichéd but many a time, we get so caught up in our little world which, when falling apart, we forget to have gratitude to have made it thus far or to just pause and reflect on the past. As the late Steve Jobs quipped in his now iconic Stanford commencement address in 2005 “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” A difference which can be the key in shaping and charting a new course of action in our lives.

As we all go through navigating this immensely worrying "New Normal", a challenge which has affected 99% of humanity in some way or the other, a challenge which in most people's living memories has never occurred on this scale and magnitude, especially for younger generations just entering the work force, listing a few key pointers which have been useful for me over the years:

• Perseverance - Grit : Oft-quoted words one is most likely to hear apart from "This too shall pass" but the true meaning lies in having a long term view of your goals and meaningful one's at that. Once a habit is inculcated to not worry or get overwhelmed over short term problems, the mind can be attuned to always be looking at the larger picture. This doesn't mean to procrastinate over immediate problems but rather "observe and act" over them than "react".
• Integrity : As a thumb rule, always maintain personal & professional integrity in the most trying of times, however difficult they might be. Integrity builds Character which then guides further actions towards positive outcomes. Character is what defines you by doing the right thing when no one is watching. Reputation is what others think of you which can be superficial and not a self-improvement tool.
• Reach out & Build support system: Never a bad idea to reach out to associates, friends, family & mentors for advice. There is no shame in reaching out, as in this hyper connected world going through collective calamities, one would be surprised to know how many people actually are willing to lend a listening ear and offer meaningful help. But never idolize people for their reputations or journeys for each one has multiple layers of work behind it, rather learn from them and form your own journeys. Even with 8 Bn+ people, each will have a unique story to tell which is the beauty of humanity.
• Unlearn: People often talk of up/re-skilling, constant learning etc as parts of conditioning each other to their set of values ingrained from birth to wherever they are in their journeys. But, no one talks of constantly shedding our past baggage and so much of societal undue pressures. One has to also constantly keep unlearning to make space for new ideas, new thoughts and thankfully we now live in a self learning, "information always available" society wherein many old thought processes may be outdated or un-needed like the traditional industrial classroom system of churning "doers". Be a thinker, not just an action oriented ML/AI like human.
• Develop a Hobby/Exercise: In challenging or high pressure situations/times, it is so important to unwind and connect with your core innate qualities, whether it be through a stimulating hobby, an exercise regimen or spending quality time with people who matter (who have no agenda's to be with you). Sparing an hour each day refreshes oneself to take on new challenges and get back to having a longer view point on things rather than short term.
• Do Nothing: We have so blatantly falsified the notion of "being busy always" = "being successful", this is an inheritance of the industrial revolution wherein we were needed to put in X hours to earn money and then the corporate culture of being tied to our workstations as slaves to masters who reaped the benefits. Both still have meaning as long as they serve the purpose of our individual evolution's as thought leaders. Doing nothing for a while should not make one feel guilty for being unproductive - it just might and often does give a fresh perspective on most matters.

We all have a finite time on this planet and the more we engage consciously with ourselves, rather than be always worrying on short term issues, the more purposeful lives we can lead ,which can serve as the basis for forming newer - more empathetic societies and generations

Amit Gupta