We’re in the middle of a global pandemic. At first, there was this sense of community solidarity, but it feels like that wore off a few weeks ago. Now, restaurants and salons and gyms are open. It feels like we’re trying to go back to normal, except for the fact that we still don’t have any real treatment for COVID-19, and people are still getting sick and dying from it. It’s like everyone got bored of the pandemic and decided it was over.
I’m incredibly privileged in my experience of this pandemic. I’m working from home, I still have an income. I’m young and healthy – if I get COVID-19, I will probably get sick, but recover and be okay. I’m not responsible for caring for elderly family members, or homeschooling while trying to work. Still, I have two family members who have gotten COVID-19 (both have recovered, thankfully,) and it’s challenging to be so unsure about every aspect of the future.
I recognize that this is a challenging time, but there’s opportunity in the challenge. Every experience that has pushed me to grow and be better was a challenging one. The Western Herald was challenging. TFA was challenging. My current role is challenging. All of those experiences have made me better at solving problems, better at persevering through hard things, and better at working in a team. Why should this pandemic be anything different?
The Obstacle is the Way is about using stoicism to grow through everything that you go through – fitting for this weird time. I has nuggets of wisdom that were really applicable for right now.
“Always be prepared for disruption, always working that disruption into our plans. Fitted, as they say, for defeat or victory. And let’s be honest, a pleasant surprise is a lot better than an unpleasant one.
What if…
Then I will…
What if…
Instead I’ll just…
What if…
No problem, we can always…
“And in the case where nothing could be done, the Stoics would use it as an important practice to do something the rest of us too often fail to do: manage expectations. Because sometimes the only answer to “What if…” is It will suck but we’ll be okay.”
When I apply to this to anything that feels uncertain right now, it works. What if we can’t go back to school in the fall because of COVID-19? Then we will improve our distance learning, reach out to families to see how we can support them and update them on their scholar’s progress, and I’ll have more time to get our facilities in really great shape.
“It’s a little unnatural, I know, to feel gratitude for things we never wanted to happen in the first place. But we know, at this point, the opportunities and benefits that lie within adversities. We know that in overcoming them, we emerge stronger, sharper, empowered. There is little reason to delay these feelings. To begrudgingly acknowledge later that it was for the best, when we could have felt that in advance because it was inevitable.
“You love it because it’s all fuel. And you don’t just want fuel. You need it. You can’t go anywhere without it. No one or no thing can. So you’re grateful for it.”
Has anyone in my role at my school faced that kind of challenge before? No. They haven’t. Having this unique experience is going to give me skills that nobody in my role has had the opportunity to develop before, and I’m going to be stronger for it.
“Will is fortitude and wisdom – not just about specific obstacles but about life itself and where the obstacles we are facing fit within it.”
This hit me because I find more and more that the gap between success and failure isn’t caused by natural ability or intelligence, but a willingness to keep trying, and to try different things when what you’re trying doesn’t work. To not give up, and to learn from your mistakes and failures.
This book wasn’t an actionable, how to, follow these five steps and you’ll be set type of book. It was more about taking these big ideas of how people can grow through facing big obstacles, and seeing how those played out in the lives of influential people throughout history.