Crisis, Threat or Opportunity?

Crisis, Threat or Opportunity

Crisis is defined as an emergency, disaster or catastrophe. However, it is also defined as a turning point, crossroads or moment of truth. The Chinese have a symbol for crisis that contains two characters, one meaning dangerous threat while the other, opportunity.

While crisis holds the threat of loss on many levels, it also holds the opportunity for transformation. Caregivers face crisis as an on-going challenge throughout all stages of caring for a loved one. In fact, it is the doorway through which most of us enter when beginning the caregiving experience. Unprepared and perhaps in denial, we all find ourselves in the tortuous domino effect of reacting to crisis after crisis, losing ground as each event unfolds. 

I’m sharing these photos from my trip to China where I studied Qi Gong. It was a personal journey to try and conquer my fear. I made a difficult choice to leave my father for a month for this trip. It was hard, but climbing this mountain for 5 ½ hours to the top showed me something about myself that I could not have learned otherwise. 

So how exactly can we turn a catastrophe into a transformational experience, from complete overwhelm to becoming more at peace than ever before? 

When experiencing crisis after crisis as a loved one declines, how is it possible to look on the bright side?

What we learn throughout the years of caregiving depends largely upon our focus. If every turn brings more tension and blame, the experience can ultimately destroy a family. But caregiving is a time when we can also be magically lifted above issues and circumstances if we are in the right state of mind or should I say……. heart.

We’ve all witnessed people who have been through natural disasters and emerged with a renewed spirit as they pull together focusing on community as a whole versus their own personal loss. Steve Jobs when fired from Apple stated that this time of unimaginable loss was for him the most creative time in his life. He was ultimately reinstated. How do we explain this? How do these people seem to thrive in the face of their biggest and most threatening challenges?

It's the focus beyond oneself, beyond your ones own needs that makes you thrive; that gives you a distinctive place, a purpose in the world while revealing your unique ability to contribute.

In crisis we are forced to draw on our inner strength and spirit. In this most vulnerable and raw state we find ourselves, a rare clarity emerges about life and our priorities. It becomes clear that our usual fears and obstacles or even excuses have been perpetuated not by others, but by ourselves. Crisis accelerates the choice to move beyond them or give up on having the life we have always hoped for. But if channeled, this new energy can indeed transform your circumstances, your relationships, your mind…..and most of all your heart. 

In caregiving, crisis comes in a slightly different form. Although caregivers have life threatening events they have to handle, their personal crisis is not event driven, but rather driven by the hours and hours of isolation, grief and even loss of identity. The feeling of nowhere to turn and the question of who am I now?...... relentlessly haunts us having sacrificed our own goals to care for a loved one. Unless you choose to focus inward for this“hero’s journey”, it’s easy to get lost, maybe forever. 

Is crisis a threat or opportunity?

From up here...

it looks like an opportunity.