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What if the way we've been thinking about change and disorder is all wrong? Perhaps there is no going back to the way things were.
Change is not something that passively happens to you, but rather something you are in regular conversation with.
(THREAD.) https://www.outsideonline.com/2423016/6-principles-navigating-challenges-life
Change is not something that passively happens to you, but rather something you are in regular conversation with.
(THREAD.) https://www.outsideonline.com/2423016/6-principles-navigating-challenges-life
Common pitfalls around change:
-Attempt to avoid it
-Refuse to acknowledge it
-Actively resist it
-Sacrifice agency
-Strive to get back to way things were
These pitfalls result from a historical homeostasis model, which says order -> disorder -> order.
But it's not accurate!
-Attempt to avoid it
-Refuse to acknowledge it
-Actively resist it
-Sacrifice agency
-Strive to get back to way things were
These pitfalls result from a historical homeostasis model, which says order -> disorder -> order.
But it's not accurate!
A better way to think about change and disorder is what scientists call allostasis, which literally means "stability through change."
Unlike homeostasis, allostasis describes a pattern of order, disorder, REorder.
It says healthy systems engage, adapt, and move forward.
Unlike homeostasis, allostasis describes a pattern of order, disorder, REorder.
It says healthy systems engage, adapt, and move forward.
Navigating change is a skill you can develop. I've come to call this skill "rugged flexibility."
-To be rugged is to be tough, determined, durable.
-To be flexible is to adapt, to bend without breaking.
Put them together and the result is a gritty endurance and anti-fragility.
-To be rugged is to be tough, determined, durable.
-To be flexible is to adapt, to bend without breaking.
Put them together and the result is a gritty endurance and anti-fragility.
Rugged flexibility relies upon practicing six key principles:
1. Open up to change
2. Build strength AND adaptability
3. Expect it to be hard
4. Become diverse and robust
5. Respond not react
6. Make meaning on the other side
1. Open up to change
2. Build strength AND adaptability
3. Expect it to be hard
4. Become diverse and robust
5. Respond not react
6. Make meaning on the other side
1. Open up to change
Resisting change and disorder may feel good in the short-term, but invariably leads to distress in the long-term. You’ve got to engage with what is in front of you, and wisely—which is what the following principles emphasize.
Resisting change and disorder may feel good in the short-term, but invariably leads to distress in the long-term. You’ve got to engage with what is in front of you, and wisely—which is what the following principles emphasize.
2. Build strength and adaptability
Strength without adaptability is rigidity. Adaptability without strength is instability.
Identify your core values, the few things that make you who you are, the hills that you’ll die on. Outside of those core values, be willing to adapt.
Strength without adaptability is rigidity. Adaptability without strength is instability.
Identify your core values, the few things that make you who you are, the hills that you’ll die on. Outside of those core values, be willing to adapt.
3. Expect it to be hard
If you're running a marathon and expect it to feel easy at mile 20, you're in for a rude awakening. If you expect it to feel awful, you’ll be prepared to grind; perhaps on a good day you’ll even be pleasantly surprised.
This is true for change too.
If you're running a marathon and expect it to feel easy at mile 20, you're in for a rude awakening. If you expect it to feel awful, you’ll be prepared to grind; perhaps on a good day you’ll even be pleasantly surprised.
This is true for change too.
4. Become diverse and robust
The wider your knowledge, skills, experiences, and perspectives, the better. If you can cultivate a diverse and robust identity, you can take a blow in one part of your system but move forward in others.
The wider your knowledge, skills, experiences, and perspectives, the better. If you can cultivate a diverse and robust identity, you can take a blow in one part of your system but move forward in others.
5. Respond not react
Holocaust survivor and philosopher Viktor Frankl wrote, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Think 4 P's to help: pause; process; plan; proceed.
Holocaust survivor and philosopher Viktor Frankl wrote, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Think 4 P's to help: pause; process; plan; proceed.
6. Make meaning on the other side
Research shows that we look back on challenging periods in a more connected and meaningful light than we experience them. Sometimes nothing makes sense until you get to the other side, and that’s okay.
Just keep showing up.
Research shows that we look back on challenging periods in a more connected and meaningful light than we experience them. Sometimes nothing makes sense until you get to the other side, and that’s okay.
Just keep showing up.
The goal is not to be stable and therefore never change.
Nor is the goal to sacrifice all sense of stability, passively surrendering yourself to the whims of life.
The goal is to meet somewhere in the middle, to be both grounded and accepting of change, rugged and flexible.
Nor is the goal to sacrifice all sense of stability, passively surrendering yourself to the whims of life.
The goal is to meet somewhere in the middle, to be both grounded and accepting of change, rugged and flexible.
