FEEL YOUR POWER

So, you are bummed about losing a year of normal life to the pandemic like most other people. Unfortunately, many have actually lost their lives to the virus, so maybe you are not doings so bad after all. Although some vaccines are beginning to be distributed against further spread of disease, there is no vaccine for recovering your social life or career. However, an injection of perseverance with a follow up shot of determination can not only help you to survive, but to thrive.

This is the time to meet the challenges and reinvent yourself. Otherwise, you risk to continue life as a victim of circumstance and lost in the new normal without a plan. As I have learned, especially as an Expat, some big changes in life are necessary to adapt and be successfully in your new chosen homeland. The pandemic has dropped this “gift” on almost everyone’s doorstep now, expat or not.

Each person’s plan must be individualized according to skills and resources available at the time. What is universal is the required fundamental ingredients of perseverance and determination. This is the very nature of life; to adapt to changing conditions or face possible extinction. What resources you don’t have must be improvised and then nurtured in order to sustain and build upon. This approach can achieve momentum towards overcoming challenges. Think of the example of the need to build a fire in the wilderness to provide warmth, light, and preparing food. Consider what resources you have in hand, what is accessible, and what you need to do to accomplish the goal. If you have a stove, fuel, and source of ignition, it’s easy. Otherwise, you must think how you can create a spark or flame, collect tinder, kindling, and fuel to sustain your fire. Reinventing yourself is similar. Think of how you might enjoy a new job or create a company. If you don’t immediately have the skills and resources necessary, you must look inward to generate the perseverance and determination required to meet the challenges. Next begin to take stock of your situation and resources. Work with what you have, improvise to meet the needs, and build upwards from what you have. Isn’t it true that just a spark from steel struck on flint can produce a flame when put to a small amount of dry wood shavings? Protect it for the wind, add some twigs, then sticks, then logs that you have cut and collected and you have a roaring fire. This analogy fits how we might have to think small to make something big and life sustaining.

If you don’t have the skills and experience necessary to have the career you desire, maybe going to school and/or taking an entry level job in your chosen field might help you reach a higher level. If you don’t have cash and experience to start your own business as you dream it to be, perhaps you can start very small as a sideline business while you save your money to build your business while gaining experience, industry contacts and feedback from customers.

Good risk management will help you survive mistakes, market changes, and plain old bad luck. Protect your small investment in self and business just like that tiny flame discussed earlier. Plan to feed your flame with bigger resources when they can be sustained. Continue to protect it and plan for sustainable growth and needs. Remember perseverance and determination if your fire gets rained on or you can’t find any more fuel. Maybe something more drastic has to now happen, like moving to a new environment or changing methods to adapt to changing circumstances. Rethink the methods and means and reinvent yourself as many times as necessary or desired. That is the joy of life.

“Feel Your Power” is a mantra written by Prof. Dr. Arsen Gvenetadze and set to his original musical composition. Read by Joseph Boccuzzi in English on SoundCloud link below.
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/pupyri51QSDZjiNX6