There is always another perspective. It makes no difference how we view what is happening to us, there is more than one way of seeing things. For example, when events don’t go our way we have the option to give up or fight on. This post is a reminder to myself as much as anyone that no matter how much we may be tempted to surrender to what we believe our fate to be, there is another path we can choose. One which sees us stand up and fight.
It’s been a difficult week and there have been times when I felt the temptation to throw in the towel on a particular project. Every setback means having to get up again so, in some ways, it makes sense to consider the alternatives. As a consequence I flirted with the possibility of giving up. I dared to indulge the thoughts running through my mind and, although they were not too enticing, I could nonetheless feel how seductive such a feedback loop can be.
Somehow, giving up has always been an available option and whilst I would not necessarily say it is my default setting, it has a familiarity about it which makes its contemplation inevitable. But in reality, it isn’t a viable choice and I can point to numerous occasions in my life where I stood up again and again and carried on.
Furthermore, I have met people in the last few years who are all about fighting. A grandmother who fought so intensely at an early age and whose story always makes me feel humble when I think about what she went through; a loved one who has shown me that the important relationships in life are always worth fighting for; and a client who not only fights on behalf of those less fortunate, but who immediately declared herself willing to fight a personal issue instead of walking away.
So when I think of them, there is only one thing to do. And besides, who can tell us how situations will work out anyway? When we are in the midst of a painful period it feels like it might go on for ever, but it doesn’t. And we are prone to create doomsday scenarios, but they are only one of a thousand possibilities. The truth is, we don’t know how or when it will resolve itself, or how close we are to a solution or a breakthrough. Neither do we know what we are about to learn from the whole experience.
Moreover, when we decide to stand up, be resolute and carry on, we cause a shift to occur which not only changes our mood, it also influences events. It changes everything. So the best thing we can do whenever we are faced with a choice is to ignore all other options and head straight for the one which says stand up and fight. It may not be the easiest option at the time, but it’s the best one.