Crisis or Opportunity?

I had an old supervisor who I did my clinical internship with who introduced the concept of “crisis versus opportunity” to me and it has become a pillar how I manage perspective. Within the global Coronavirus pandemic, this concept has come back to the forefront of my personal and professional practice. The idea is simple; whatever situation you are in you have two choices about the lense in which you perceive the circumstances though, the lens of crisis or the lense of opportunity. Evolutionary psychology points to the way in which our brains are wired for abstract creative thought the leans towards prediction of pain/discomfort to avoid in the future (crisis lens) BUT, we can upgrade this software with effort and repetition. This pandemic has many of us sick, scared, bored, fearful and anxious due to the unknown physical, cultural and financial fallout. We can not change the many difficult emotions that are provoked in such circumstances but, we can manage our mindset related to the circumstance. I challenge both myself and my clients frequently to use this lens management skill to brainstorm on the potential opportunities within a circumstance that triggers difficult emotion. Although this concept may be simple, it is in no way easy. You are however, no matter who and where you are, capable of developing this skill. Spend some time with a daily practice of checking in with yourself to identify what lense you are seeing your circumstance through; one of catastrophic crisis or one of seeking opportunity. 

EXAMPLE:

Circumstance - 

I find myself working from home, separated from my routine and getting kicked of the web server every 15 minutes. 

Crisis Lens -

I am never going to be as productive as I was in the office, I’m going to lose my reputation at work, I can’t stand being interrupted in my workflow and I know this is never going to end. 

Opportunity Lens -

I am entirely not in control of the internet and being separated from my office routine sucks. I can however, use this circumstance to practice a 2-3 minute grounding technique every other time I get kicked off the server to develop mindfulness skills and learn control things within my sphere of influence. 

*Same circumstance, different perspective with different consequences. 

Got questions? Let’s talk, I can help. 

TM