There is ALWAYS a Positive in Every Difficult Situation.
If you were to quietly reflect back in your life, you would likely find that there were multiple events that shook you to your core. They might have been global events, such as 9/11, a war, or one of the recessions that occur most every decade, or they were more personal such as an unexpected job loss, relationship failure, or tragedy.
With each thing you have endured, over time something extremely positive came from it.
A Silver Lining.
Changes in perspective, mindset, direction, and actions that come out of crisis lead to positive outcomes in our life which might never have resulted had we not faced a crisis. I know some of the absolute best things in my life came from personal crisis. In the “3 Circles Living” chapter where I touch on silver linings I share a little about how a major crisis led to meeting Melanie, the love of my life and my wife of 31 years. There is simply no way I would have met her without that crisis occurring.
Did I want the experience and struggle at the time? Absolutely not. No one enjoys the uncertainty, anxiety, all-consuming emotional roller-coater of a crisis. But I am sure glad it happened.
The current virus driven crisis is impacting our world in multiple ways. It’s a health crisis, an economic crisis, and an emotional crisis all rolled into one. It’s well-documented which populations are at risk, and I am in no way down-playing the severity or seriousness of this situation.
I believe we will emerge from this with many positives. In the immediate, we have families who are spending more time together than they ever have. We have the opportunity to take a breath and consider what’s really important in life. We have a chance to work on ourselves and grow such that we can make a better contribution in general going forward.
As a country, we will be more united than we have been for many years. In times like these, party lines become irrelevant and the good of all becomes more important than who is right and who is wrong. This will be true for any country.
We will be more prepared for crisis in the future, and more grateful for times when things are easeful.
We will be more compassionate for those in the world whose day to day living, is always as difficult as our current moment in time is.
We will in general have a shift in priorities. Health and relationships will move to their rightful place at the top of the list.
I Remember Like it Was Yesterday…
I was sitting with my brother in the Fall of 1998. Scott was fighting for his life. At the age of 42, he had cancer and hepatitis C. I was visiting him in Phoenix, AZ and he was beginning to look like he would recover. We were sitting at the table after dinner, and he said to me “When I get through this, I’m going to take better care of myself, I’m going to…” and he went on to tell me the things he was going to do differently.
He had the opportunity, because of his illness, to reflect on his life. See what really mattered. Consider how he wanted the rest of his life to look.
The next morning, he had a massive embolism in his brain as we were walking out the door of his apartment and went into a grand-mal seizure. I sat on the sidewalk holding his head in my arms to keep him from continuously smashing it onto the pavement in the seizure. This left him in a coma and he died a week later. I will never forget any second of that experience. Not the agonizing hour of holding him on the sidewalk, or the hours of sobbing by myself on the curb outside of the hospital after I learned he would never again wake up.
It changed my life for the better in so many ways. I miss my brother. I’m getting tears in my eyes as I type this. But he gave me a gift. Yes, I started living the 3 Circles before his crisis, but I became infinitely more passionate about sharing it, and about living life on my own terms.
I KNOW there are no guarantees. Only opportunities that each day that dawns brings.
Take this time to begin painting the picture of the life you want for the future. No excuses. No Limits. You have the freedom of choice. You have the current silver lining of time.
I hope this is helpful for you. I encourage you to share with others who may benefit from this message.
On Thursday March 26 at 2pm eastern time I will be doing the next free personal development webinar YOU 102. There was wonderful feedback from the first one. This one is going to really open your eyes about some things…just giving you fair notice:-) The space is limited and will fill completely up so register now and share with whoever you’d like. Register Here.
Many Blessings, Todd
P.S. “3 Circles Living” will not only help you condition yourself properly, but it will also give you an exact formula for achieving your richest life possible. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!
With a tear in my eyes I thank you for these lines
I appreciate your comment Herbert, thank you.
Dear Todd, thank you so much for sharing this story. I’m so very sorry for your loss; it says time heals all our wounds; for me there’s some that never end hurting, but you’ll learn to smile about the good memories <3. And as long as he lives in your memory, he'll always be alive by your side <3. Many blessings, and thank you once again so much for beeing there for us <3.
Thank you for these kind words Marianne, I have warm memories of him, and think of him often.