Thursday, February 21, 2013

4 Choices you have when under stress

Stress for the purposes of our discussion is being in a position to do something that you don't want to do.  In this moment, you would literally rather be somewhere else.

Most of the time we have at least four choices when under stress:

1. Do it because you decide you are going to be in this place in order to see what you can learn from it.  Is there a different outcome you will discover that will lead you to a different, if not better place?  This is basically the opposite George approach.  "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."

2. Do it because, although you see it as a waste of time and beneath you, you know that it is important to someone else and therefore "making them happy will make me happy."  Jin up your energy, punch the time clock, put on a smile and do the work well.

3. Don't do it and be OK with that because you just weren't in the right place for it at the moment.  You earn the ability to take this option most likely after you have successfully employed option 3 a a time or two.  There is nothing wrong with paying your dues to be able to say no.  Consider this option also partly as a time to build up the reserves to take option 2.  Options 2 and 3 might be considered as a bank account.  Option 2 is deposits.  Option 3 is debits.  Try to build up some savings.

4. Do it and resent it.  This is often the option we take most when we don't consider the other alternatives.  But it is an option we should try to avoid at all costs.  Because it costs more than it is worth. It drains any hope of joy.  It bankrupts any capital we have. It creates negative energy and puts us behind the next time we have a choice to make.

The challenge? Developing the wisdom of when to employ which option.

I recently read a story about a doctor who took the time to help a patient eat her food, spruce up her pillow, and empty the bed pan for her.  I must admit it was counter intuitive to me.  It seemed like a rare thing for a doctor to do these things.

I asked a health care professional why it seemed so out of the ordinary.

They usually don't, she said, because they are so busy.  They are under a lot of stress.  They have forgotten that doing these little things for a patient are joy.

As a leader in discipleship, we are busy and under stress.  Have we forgotten about joy?

Maybe being wise in moments of stress will lead us back to the moments of joy that got us into this work in the first place.

Choose wisely my friend.

Find joy.

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