Some problems don’t need a fix. They need you to stay in the room until they get smaller.
RESILIENCE
WHAT THIS MEANS
Plenty of problems have no solution, and the instinct to find one can make things worse by turning something to be lived through into something you are failing at. Certain situations only shrink with time and presence: an illness, a family going through something, a long wait. Staying in the room is an actual response rather than the absence of one.
If something is not fixable this week, stop measuring yourself by whether you fixed it. Work out what staying looks like instead, which usually means turning up, being reachable, and not vanishing when it gets dull. Ask the person involved what would help rather than guessing at a repair.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which problem would shrink if you simply stayed present?
MORE IN ADVERSITY, PRESSURE & RESILIENCE
- A lot of a firefighter’s shift is drills, checks and cleaning gear. The big moment rides on all the small boring ones.
- Getting laughed at for trying is a toll everyone pays at the start. The people laughing often never paid it.
- A cadet’s first gear drill is clumsy and slow. Speed shows up on drill fifty, not drill one.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.