Disruptions happen all the time. But rarely do they happen to everyone at the same time on the scale they are happening right now. Most disruptions happen to other people; they have a child get sick or they lose their job or their life changes abruptly in some other way. And we feel bad, but then the rest of us go on with our own lives. Because the disruption didn’t really effect us.
Other times the disrupted life is ours. Our life is suddenly thrown off course and other people may feel badly for us for a moment but then they go on with their lives. They have to by necessity, because they still have bills to pay and children to feed.
Rarely does a disruption happen to all of us at once. And never in my lifetime has there been a time when the disruption has been to this level. Right now there isn’t anyone who can go about their usual daily routine. Which is awful. But at the same time there is something good about being able to step outside of your usual routine and examine your surroundings. It’s a good time to reorganize your priorities. It’s a good time to determine which parts of your life are actually important and which ones are less important than you once thought.
A disruption is a good time to figure out which parts of your life you want to go back to when the disruption is over.
Difficulty, Opportunity, and Work
There’s a famous quote attributed to Albert Einstein where he said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” The longer I live the more I think that there aren’t many statements that are more true than that one. The problem is that most of us are too busy staring at the difficulty to look for the opportunity.
There is another famous quote that reveals more of the reason we often miss opportunity. Not only do we miss opportunities because they are hidden by difficulty but we also miss opportunity because, as Albert Einstein said, “it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is hidden by difficulty and when it is found it looks too much like hard work to take the time to mine out.
Difficult times come, we can’t stop them, but we can take the time to forge through the pain and find something better. We can find an opportunity to become better ourselves. To learn more.
Then once we find that opportunity we have to be willing to put in the work to take advantage of the opportunity. We have to be willing to put on our hard hats and grab our lunch pails and go to work. We have to be willing to do the hard work of making lemonade. We have to look at coal and see diamonds. Then we have to be willing to accept the pressure it takes to make those diamonds.
This doesn’t mean that every disruption is good, but it does mean that we can often find an opportunity if we are willing to work through the difficulty to get to it.
Prioritize your priorities
Trust me, I’m not speaking in hyperbole or from a place of ignorance on this. I’m talking to myself. My life has been interrupted. I’m self employed and I live in a city that has completely shut down. Things are very difficult right now, so I’m speaking mostly to myself when I write this.
Every day I’ve had a new difficulty arise and every day I’ve had to remind myself to look for the opportunity it may be hiding. Each morning I’ve had to reevaluate my priorities. I find I’m leaving a few things behind that I probably won’t be picking back up once this is all over. I also find that I’m clinging to some things harder than I ever have. In short, I’m looking for opportunities and I’m reprioritizing my priorities.
Who would have thought two short years after I write a novel about a global virus that spreads like fire and shuts down the world we would have a global virus spreading like fire and closing down the world? So if you need some quarantine entertainment, then look no further, check out THE NEPHILIM VIRUS!
