The past week has been one of new experience. Some planned medical stuff shifted/reduced the boundaries of what’s physically possible, thankfully temporarily.
In this discomfort zone (and acknowledging an awful lot of help in the ‘baby’ stages of recovery) it has been about relearning how to be in my environment and with each stage of recovery adapting the previous day’s adaptations.
So, I have become more conscious of our human ability to adapt, adjust, reinvent, create workarounds that might even be more effective than the original move. For sure, we’re adapting all the time, adjusting our position to find comfort or balance in our situation, or taking a more challenging (and courageous) stance to test limits and push for change.
But this ability is probably being used, largely, on autopilot. Are we really giving this ‘muscle’ the attention it deserves given it’s essential to thriving in a constantly changing world.
When we start to think about it, we find adaptability showing up in a number of supportive ways…
- As a fundamental enabler of resilience – giving confidence that we have the resources we need to face whatever comes.
- Connecting consciously with our ability to adapt opens the mind to new possibilities and helps us embrace change, secure in the knowledge we can meet its demands and make it work.
- As a source of creativity, getting out of our comfort zone tends to prompt our inventiveness – those adaptations to a changed environment.
- As a centre of balance – we can adjust whichever way the sand shifts.
- As a new lens on the world – in adapting we’re shifting position in one way or another which unlocks alternative perspectives.
We talk a lot about learning coming when we step out of our comfort zone yet how often do we put ourselves in that place and put our adaptability to the test consciously? It might just be a worthwhile service to our learning and leadership of self and others.