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Writer's pictureStephen Feeney

Invaluable lessons we can learn as youths from David Cameron during Brexit about Emotion, Perspectiv



Direction during challenging times

In the last week, there have been some dramatic shifts in how the future of this country will be shaped. How can one person's actions influence others? From what you'll have read in the news the last four days, it's a huge amount.

Looking at commitment to actions, planning for the worst and hoping for the best, holding perspective and strength when times are at their most challenging will be covered in this story.

We laid witness to someone who was leading a country, break and crumble over a matter of 24 hours.

When things are going great, we're all happy and feel like we have no cares in the world. However when something disruptive comes along, we can quickly feel the negative effect. This influence can go either way, and it's much easier to spread the negative than the positive. We as humans are easily influenced. Think of the rush of emotions we feel when we watch a sport, we can feel all the highs and lows in a very short space of time. This is normal, right? How could leaders act, or in fact all of us act when times get extremely challenging or unpredictable?

"Nothing makes us feel the way we do; it's just the way we choose to feel and respond."

We saw a huge amount of Emotion and Passion over the last few days in the news. Something that we cannot switch off but something that we can be aware of and manage. Mistakes are unavoidable in life; it's how you choose to respond to them that matters. Do you set down tools and run away, do you attack it with and equal and opposite force or do you step back access and look at the bigger picture as to what has just happened?

Once we can see the bigger picture it does help reduce the emotion and passion attached to it and give you a clearer perspective.

The Stoics had a fantastic saying called Apatheia, meaning without or passion. In a nutshell, a state of mind where one is not disturbed by the passions. We spend an enormous amount of energy on things that in all honesty never move us forward, complaining, in fighting, being afraid, doubting ourselves, dwelling on the problem rather than a solution is an interesting approach to getting the best of a bad situation.

We are seeing this at the level at which people are running our country. So what can be a simpler take on things? Learn from others experiences; there will be an infinite number of examples where individuals have fallen on their own sword. Equally many will have came up with a solution to a similar situation. People say that experiencing it yourself is good but the simpler version is to watch it from an outside seat looking in, learn what went wrong or right and then you'll have a better solution to the problem.

What way do you want to react in a volatile situation? Calm, collective, clear, concise and with direction and a bigger vision. Imagine last week was a battle and the leader gave up and ran away? The outcome wouldn't look so great.

Planning for the worst and hoping for the best is a fantastic quote. Seeing every obstacle as an opportunity to grow and find more out about yourself is the way to take on the biggest challenges that life will place in our way. The individual that thrives and relishes the challenge turn out better than if they had never faced the challenge at all.

So

- gain perspective (on the thing you wish to address)

- Reduce Emotion and passion and see how the picture looks in troubled times.

- Take action on the best way forward.

- What will you set out to do?

Running away, focusing on complaining about the problem or burying your head in the sand are interesting options for developing yourself.

You can choose your response, let it be the right one that will move you and others around you forward. Emotions and ego can lead you down interesting paths. We reinforce with our mentees not being lead by our egos; we learn to look at the bigger picture and respond in the best way possible to the most challenging situations. Something that unfortunately as we've seen is not ingrained in life even as adults.

To find out more about what we do visit

www.theinvictusproject.co.uk

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