I have watched a difficult situation be evaluated by a team at my new project location.

New ownership, meant new management, meant new software to run, new accounting methods, new business licenses and all the government hoops. Some people leave because it is too stressful, some are asked to leave. No doubt this is indeed a stressful situation causing interrupts to function, but how much are you going to allow it to affect you?

Little things like, “Where are the garbage cans?” can tip the scale, pushing people to their limits. Some can’t sleep, some are getting ill, some can’t function because of their stress and quit. Yet everyone views things differently and handles the hiccups of transition in a variety of ways.

In an earlier blog I talked about my first experience in driver’s training. How it seemed I couldn’t keep straight on the road because I kept looking at those little white lines coming at me so fast and changing with each turn or lane…that was stressful for me. How can anyone drive when the white lines are coming at you so fast?

The solution was easily resolved when my instructor said, “Look up and farther ahead.” That did it! That didn’t stop the white lines coming at me just as fast, but they were no longer my focus. I now looked ahead and at the bigger picture.

This is point one in handling difficult situations. 1. Change your focus and widen your view. Some guess that is how God looks at things? That could explain a lot, since such an entity would indeed have a much larger viewpoint.

Point two: 2. Long term goal looks positive? If the change is striving (not necessarily functioning, at the moment) at a positive target, get on board. Management has given you a vision of possibilities. That vision should be your new focus.

Point three: 3. Endurance- Everything takes longer than first anticipated and a moment in pain is far longer than a moment on vacation, but that is the journey. I hear, “But this is hard. Nothing is going right.” and I think of childbirth (something most men can’t totally comprehend).

You plan and visualize what it will be like having your new little one and then the first pains come and you remember what it was like with your first one and instantly scream in your mind. “Wait this is far too tough to go through again!” but you have no choice. This is part of the journey. You can’t get from point A to point B without it.

Lastly, 4. Forgive in advance. There are going to be mistakes. This may not work. Figure out a couple of alternatives if it fails and then relax and throw your energy behind the project.

Nothing is assured, and that is the fun of life, the journey that gives you a wonderful story to tell. Think how horrible life would be if at the end you said, ” I worked 40 years putting A into B hole and everything was fine…and now I am going to die without a single hiccup or story of struggle?” No one would watch your movie. 🙂

Life is about hiccups. You decide how to Weigh your stress. Choose a level that is entertaining and will give your story a plot. If you have no stress you will have no story, so enjoy the journey.

Hugs, Pam