Back on April 2, 2020 my state had been in a “Peacetime State of Emergency” for 20 days… I had already started my personal project to disrupt the collapsing of two ideas that seem to have take hold in our society – Social Distancing = Social Isolation… I called it #PossibilityFreedom and then I came across this post from a friend and I IMMEDIATELY share it to my Facebook world!
I was frustrated. And I thought this was just the “kick in the pants” people would need to get of their couches and into action. My efforts to unite my community weren’t working and despite my best efforts to engage a “general” public in a conversation that I thought made sense… help one-another grown during this ‘unprecedented’ time… it still took another three-weeks for the problem with my “message” to sink in.
There is a LIE built into that image I’ve shared here…
Can you see it? (Take a moment… I dare you… look back).
It’s a lie we’ve participated in because it seems so “obvious.”
It’s a lie that will result in most people coming out of the Covid-19 experience with:
- NO New Skill
- NO New “Side-Hustle”
- NO New Knowledge (Unless you count copious amounts of Netflix!)
Or as I look at it:
- NO Dream Birthed or Rekindled
- NO Adventure taken up
- NO Relationship moved closer to intimacy or completion
The Only thing most will walk out of this Covid-19 Experience with is the Covid #20 (those 20 lbs of “extra” weight gained from watching too much Netflix and sitting around not being able to go to the gym). All with an increased sense of self-loathing… And I will have been part of re-enforcing the lie.
The lie is… Discipline is an “internal” function. That somehow if you “work REALLY, REALLY” hard, you’ll be “successful.” That there are those that have it and “you’re not it!” And we’ve seen those outliers and thought “boy they’re really disciplined!”
Yet what if it wasn’t what we think?!? (Check out Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” for some insights here)
What if our ability to achieve our goals has less to do with our internal self-concept and more to do with the people we hang out with and what we say to one another?! It’s a lesson that I really learned during my time in the Navy. That I could count on my shipmates… my classmates to carry me through the tough times I couldn’t even see through.
So why would I kid myself and think it was “all about me?!”
It’s as simple as considering the campfire. Inside the fire are embers that glow red-hot , but knock them away from the fire and within minutes, those same embers chunks are grey and ashen… cool and able to be picked up. However, you push that same ember back into the fire and it lights up in seconds. The Heat and Brightness is a function of the fire it is a part of.
Get out there… Get in community. Encourage one another and let your light shine!
#PossibilityFreedom