A number of my coaching relationships finished at the end of the year. I witnessed with great joy how crystal clear and confident my coachees were about their future. However, I was puzzled by a discrepancy I am observing all around me.
Over the coaching relationship, my coachees changed. As they changed their habits of doing and relating to others, they observed the shifts in their ways of thinking and feeling about who they are and how they are allowed to show up in the world.
In our final sessions, we looked back to celebrate their transformation. And we looked ahead. I was inspired by their agency and optimism, their wonder at having overcome fears, limiting beliefs, and self-judgments which in the past had kept them from “going for it”.
The Discrepancy
Just last week I had such a completion session with a client, let’s call him Anton. As we spoke, it became clear that Anton’s optimism was focused entirely on his personal life – his personal growth, his family, and his health. It excluded the world outside of his inner circle.
His outlook on politics, on what’s going on in his company, and generally in business and society was at odds with his optimism about his own life. His perspective was that things are getting worse, people with bad intentions are building alliances around the world and thus amplifying each other’s impact. In response to this he shrugged: “I can’t influence that, so I ignore it.”
No agency at all!
Anton is not an exception. Surveys have shown, again and again, that people tend to be far more optimistic about their own life than about the global state of affairs. And that is coupled with minding “one’s own business” pursuing one’s own success.
Why this matters to you
But current affairs and our trajectory into the future create anxiety.
Just consider recent and upcoming elections or the news coverage of extreme weather events. Now notice the rising stress level inside of you, your discomfort.
Stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, wreak havoc in your body if you don’t find ways of getting back to baseline. Over time, sustained cortisol and adrenaline levels become a serious health threat.
And looking the other way or numbing with holidays, sugar, alcohol or shopping does not reduce the stress level.
What does is doing something, recreating a sense of agency, and creating community, a sense of belonging.
Make a contribution!
You can make a unique contribution to this world. You have a unique gift, your superpower.
And your gift is needed to make a transition to better and better in this world.
Over to you
What is your unique gift?
How can you contribute to positively impact the world outside of your inner circle, your workplace or community?
And what issue matters to you?
Find a cause, project or group you can support with ever so small a contribution.
And share your story – that’s how optimism is shared.
Don’t bury your head in the sand.
Make a difference.
