Resilience Hide & Seek
What does resilience conjure up for you? I had not given it much thought before we went into lockdown, resilience was just something that kicked in when things did not go quite the way you had planned. I thought I would always just bounce back, look for the silver lining and make life work in one way or another.
Fast forward to Friday March 20th at around 7pm, when I was told I was not allowed to work. I went straight into 'okay, so how can I reconfigure my life? What can I do? How can I do it?'
Did you feel the same?
Then I was told I still couldn't work, even whilst others were busy - either working from home or planning to return slowly to work. I was floundering, feeling rootless. I found this so hard, because I know I have the skills to help, and what’s more I want to.
At the start of the lockdown, I thought I was resilient,
but now I am not so sure.
One thing this time has given me is the opportunity to have conversations I otherwise would not have had, or made, time for. I’ve also taken the opportunity do a few things I had only dreamed of doing in the far off future.
Then I found a focus. Let me introduce Liberating structures and the Berlin meetup, who like many others went virtual during the Covid lockdown. They gave us (Regina, Connor and myself) the opportunity to create a platform to light our fire of intentions. Pre lockdown, I had heard of the Liberating Structures, but had never really felt the need to dive in. However, in this brave new world the three of us - all leadership graduates from Cti - put our heads together to dig deeper and enquire what resilience meant to each of us. We were looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, even though it seemed a long tunnel, with many kinks, so it was not always easy to see the light.
We also had questions: What do I want my life to look like? What are my intentions? How can I create with simplicity and ease? In essence, how can we help each other and those around us along the path to get in touch with our resilient self?
Building on the Theory U’s essence that generative dialogue comes from inclusive conversations, that fully listening allows ideas to pop and for everyone to feel seen and heard, Regina, Connor and I revisited the ‘LS’ tools. We had previously used the ‘LS’ to create a collaborative way to clear assumptions and create connectivity in our ‘Purple Elephant, Pink Poops’ experimental webinar.
Now resilience was in the space, and with it a desire to generate ideas, tools and habits, to nurture them and fuel them, knowing that some will implode and go splat, and others will ride the storm, because in truth, some habits are not serving us anymore. Oh yes, and not forgetting of course, the things that get in the way and trip you up, the stories we spin that keep us small and basically unfulfilled.
This is a very brief and simplistic way to describe the ‘LS’ Ecocycle. The Ecocycle is a team or individual activity which aims to uncover opportunities and obstacles. In essence, it is both complex and simple, like so much in life. Looking back, co-leading the ‘Come on baby light my fire’ webinar, was a steep learning curve for me, but I am very happy to have put my neck out there. Was I resilient? I think so. Would I do it differently a second time round? Oh yes!
With hindsight, I see now that resilience is a bit like an advent calendar with at least 25 doors in it. I can open the doors take a look inside. Do I like what I see? Maybe, maybe not. I know there are many more doors to pop my head round, I don’t have to take option one, there are choices. How do I want to structure my day? How is my diet serving me? How much sleep do I actually need to feel my best? When and how to best exercise? So the list goes on...
All is possible, it is a way of generating ideas that I can build on. It turns out resilience is really quite malleable, which I find reassuring.
How about you?
I am keen to experiment and experience more working with LS, look at how I can incorporate them in my practice both online and in person once I can open my practice, and in the mean time I plan to be a participant on the online forum, working that muscle of growth.