Can we all just give ourselves a break? The world feels different right now; unsafe, uncertain, and that puts a lot of strain and stress on our executive functioning skills. It’s challenging to continue to stay focused, centered, or grounded in the midst of extreme uncertainty. So maybe it’s okay that you can’t seem to get yourself out of bed before 7 am, stick to your daily routine, or stay motivated to complete your work. Maybe it’s perfectly fine if what you do right now is let yourself feel the heaviness of uncertainty.
Leadership in the time of uncertainty isn’t just about pushing through the tough stuff. It’s about making space to both acknowledge the heaviness of a situation and feel your feelings all the way through. We are not machines void of emotion. We are uniquely designed to feel and all of our feelings are important to our growth and development. So give yourself a break and take time to sit with your complicated and uncomfortable feelings for 90 seconds. Notice where the feeling sits in your body. Give it a color, a shape, a sound or a voice and let it exist in its fullness. What can you learn from these feelings? What do they have to teach you? How can allowing yourself to be uncertain and uncomfortable build resilience and strength? Feelings are meant for feeling and they can’t pass through us until we allow them room to breathe, change, and dissipate.
So take the time to be with yourself, learn the lessons, and provide space for you and your teams to figure things out, fail a few times, and feel your way through this together. Because after all, even when you feel certain, you really don’t have control, it’s just a feeling.
Can we all just give ourselves a break? The world feels different right now; unsafe, uncertain, and that puts a lot of strain and stress on our executive functioning skills. It’s challenging to continue to stay focused, centered, or grounded in the midst of extreme uncertainty. So maybe it’s okay that you can’t seem to get yourself out of bed before 7 am, stick to your daily routine, or stay motivated to complete your work. Maybe it’s perfectly fine if what you do right now is let yourself feel the heaviness of uncertainty.
Leadership in the time of uncertainty isn’t just about pushing through the tough stuff. It’s about making space to both acknowledge the heaviness of a situation and feel your feelings all the way through. We are not machines void of emotion. We are uniquely designed to feel and all of our feelings are important to our growth and development. So give yourself a break and take time to sit with your complicated and uncomfortable feelings for 90 seconds. Notice where the feeling sits in your body. Give it a color, a shape, a sound or a voice and let it exist in its fullness. What can you learn from these feelings? What do they have to teach you? How can allowing yourself to be uncertain and uncomfortable build resilience and strength? Feelings are meant for feeling and they can’t pass through us until we allow them room to breathe, change, and dissipate.
So take the time to be with yourself, learn the lessons, and provide space for you and your teams to figure things out, fail a few times, and feel your way through this together. Because after all, even when you feel certain, you really don’t have control, it’s just a feeling.