Flexibility

Originally Posted 9/28/2020 (Updated 6/6/2022) By Meghann Bierly

How can we be flexible in our responses to challenges and in the direction we take on our journey to our goals?

So whether you enjoy the shark analogy or not, you have hopefully come to a point where you are able to identify a few of the challenges you and your family have faced as well as the skills you already have that have helped to over overcome or at least tolerate some of the challenges and changes we are all faced with during these times.

Last time, I asked you to think of ways you could adapt to a specific challenge you were still facing and if you couldn’t adapt what other skill(s) could you employ. I also asked you to identify the goal that is on the other side of this challenge. Keep these ideas in mind as we continue to weather the storms and move forward.

In these last couple of years, the obstacles we have faced challenged us to change direction quickly, not always knowing exactly where we were headed. When faced with new challenges, I find we often focus on what ‘was’ versus looking ahead. If we stay with the shark theme to look at surviving and thriving, we must keep looking ahead and moving forward to stay afloat during challenges. We are unable to go backward, we must keep moving forward for breath and for survival.

HOW do we do this when we are faced with continued challenges of a pandemic, human rights, violence, and our own personal and family challenges. We can’t always change the reality of the current state of our environment any more than we can calm a storm by wishing it so. However, we do have the ability to change how we react to our reality, how we approach our reality, and how we feel about our reality. This is FLEXIBILITY and sharks were designed for this. This flexibility is key to why they have survived so many obstacles and challenges over 400 million years.

Sharks are flexible by design, in addition to stability and moving forward as we have discussed. Sharks do not have bones, but rather cartilage that is lighter and more flexible than bone. Some sharks can bend their bodies into a horseshoe shape to completely change directions. So not only do they only move forward but they have flexibility to change directions when needed. This too will be a paramount skill to hone while we all continue to figure out how to keep moving through our own challenges.

So far we have survived the pandemic storm and acknowledge there are many other storms simultaneously swirling around us. We kept moving forward, but have encountered more uncertainty and challenges ahead of us. We must keep moving forward, but do we keep swimming in the same direction of the challenges ahead. Do we keep trying to move ahead, hoping to be strong enough to swim through the storm or hoping it calms? I think we have an opportunity to practice flexibility. Can we move our bodies in a different way to move through these challenges? Can we choose a different direction? Can we identify our goal and destination and determine how to get there?

So in these moments of challenge, I invite you to take a moment whether with your own feelings or those of your family and acknowledge the challenge. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and remind yourself you can be flexible. Identify the goal or destination you are seeking, imagine it, and identify the flexible ways that you can meet that goal. Is there another route to the goal? Is there other skills to employ? Are there others we can learn from?

Journal:

What is the challenge you are focusing on?

What is the goal on the other side of that challenge?

Do you see a path to your goal?

Where or how could you be flexible? Is there another way?