The Consequences of crisis
There are terrible things that continue to ravage our Earth in addition to, and because of, the Covid situation.
Poverty is increasing, economies are crumbling, coups are taking place, militias are acting, weird weather is squalling, horrific and inciteful words are being thrown, famine is striking, conflict is growing … we really do live in a mad, mad World. And like in the song lyrics — there are days when I’d like to ‘hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow, no tomorrow, no tomorrow’ because I would dearly love the madness to stop.
There was such hope at the start of the pandemic. Hope for, and of, a better future, of a kind of pulling together towards a redesigning of possibility. Instead, taking its place, as I have lamented previously, there seems to be a collective haul backwards, gluing us to what we had. I’m not sure why? What we had might be comfortable because it is known, it simply isn’t sustainable though, for us as humans nor for our planet. There must be a better way.
This is it folks — our last chance to consciously, collectively, innovate for a future that is meaningful, considered, contributory [to society], sustainable, enjoyable and expanding — of minds and earthly wellbeing. I find it truly exciting to think about how we might do this. To invent, to be comfortable in the ambiguity of the unknown, to begin to uncover a world that is completely new, tolerant, connected and useful. We are such creative beings it cannot be beyond the whit of humans, surely, to come together in this endeavour? To do and be different…
The fact that this isn’t really happening, that we are failing to grasp this moment, I can only summise then must be about willand not whit … Or, maybe I’m alone in wanting not to go backwards and instead to find a way forwards that could bring so much for us all?
All crises have the potential to bring transformation. Not in and of themselves though mostly. It takes the crisis to be surrounded by ingenuity — of humans, of nature, of some catalyst to engineer that transformation.
The market crash of 2008 brought about huge consequences for the financial markets in terms of regulatory change, nature uses crisis to literally regreen itself, I’ve used this Covid crisis to become really clear on what will sustain me in the future, what I will and won’t do or tolerate.
There can be mini crises or HUGE crises and each of them bring with it an opportunity to stop … and reflect.
I might have a crisis of confidence before presenting a big idea, cooking a new dish, taking up a new hobby, meeting a group of new people, writing this blog — and if I inwardly notice what is happening in the moment of crisis instead of being frozen by it, I can learn from it. In this way, I do not have to experience that moment again, because I can move forwards and grow to meet my expanded self.
If I magnify this concept 100 fold (or more) — surely it would be possible to apply the same or similar criteria to the crises we are witnessing on the World stage? I’d love to know what positive things might emerge from this, seemingly simple idea…
Personally, the notion for this writing emerged from one of my coaching sessions where my coach asked me, as we were exploring life crises — “What are the consequences of Crisis Tania?” Change was the response (although not as succinctly put at the time) — transformative change. Because, it became apparent, that in every crisis there is potential for transformation, if only we care to look, an opportunity to reinvent the future …
Tania Watson is the founder of Creative Coaching and an executive coach, organisational consultant and leadership specialist. Creative Coaching is a successful company dedicated to the development of senior leaders in organisations through one to one coaching, intact team development and group facilitation. If you or someone from your organisation would like to have a no obligation conversation about how Creative Coaching may be able to help, please email Tania directly at tania@twcreativecoaching.com.
