An existential crisis is rich ground for growth. It’s a portal to wholeness.
Whether it’s career disruption, relationship breakdown or a civil war, the seeds of wisdom and renewal are contained within the challenge.
Some believe we face age related crises at different times of life. Others, that life is a perpetual existential crisis! The business path has productively confronted me with existential themes like uncertainty and aloneness which has been challenging but also rich and rewarding. I believe this is true for any transformational path we’re called to.
Here are 3 things that helped me nearly 10 years ago in Alaska when I was at a career turning point and unsure about my next step:
1) Connect to something greater [Presence]
Whether it’s a spiritual movement or the Cloud Appreciation Society (it really exists), having a sense of something greater that you can both rest in and contribute to, will help to widen your perspective when everything seems so overwhelming.
In Alaska, it was seeing the melting glaciers due to climate change and having a sense of the Earth as a breathing organism that I was connected to. My dilemmas suddenly seemed both small and manageable as well as embedded within a bigger process.
You might like to try this Purpose in Life quiz from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
2) Connect to your intuition [Power]
What is intuition? Let’s keep it simple and say it’s your sense of knowing beyond rational thinking. Your rational thinking is always limited by the assumptions underlying it. Your intuition integrates much more information and can deal with much more complexity. [Video archive = 2 questions to trust your intuition] https://youtu.be/CetgZkixtaM
Back in Alaska, it was rational from a career safety perspective to take option A but option B is was the path I knew I must take. I just couldn’t hear it amid all the voices in my head and around me in London. Sitting in a wood cabin in the Alaskan wilderness allowed for clarity. Now I was ready to send two emails. One to resign from my current secondment. Another to say ‘yes’ to a new one.
N.b. Don’t be surprised if your intuition guides you towards self-care first: simplifying, decluttering and looking after your basic needs, as your next small step. Sleep, diet, exercise and healthy relating are often the foundation for renewal – perhaps even a call to spend time in the wilderness…
3) Connect to your next small step [Possibility]
Going up and then down Arctic Valley stretched my physical and psychological limits. The guide happily leapt off from the top and gracefully paraglided down. I started to walk down and my muscles started to freeze, beset by vertigo.
But an intuition came to focus on my feet and simply take the next step. It became fun and uplifting as the momentum picked up.
It takes courage to take one small step in an unknown direction amidst a sense of overwhelm. But it will break the spell of the crisis.
In summary, existential crises are part of our human evolution. They are fertile ground for becoming something greater. Here are 3 guiding principles:
- Remembering a greater truth of who you are and what matters to you [Presence]
- Reconnecting with your freedom of choice using your intuition as a guide [Power]
- Responding to the situation by taking a small courageous step towards a new world [Possibility]
It always seems impossible until it’s done. - Nelson Mandela
Have a great week,
Amina
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