The word crisis originates from the Greek krisis meaning ‘decision’ and it was adopted into English to mean ‘decisive point’. However, over the centuries, the word crisis has taken on negative connotations. And it’s the negative connotations — not the crisis itself — that limit us. How we label something determines how we respond to it. We are not defined by what happens to us. We are defined by our decisions in every sphere of our lives. So a crisis offers each and every one of us a choice about who we want to be — for ourselves, our family, our colleagues and our community. The minute we decide to use a crisis as a vehicle for personal growth, we find opportunities to grow. It isn’t easy, but that’s the very reason we grow from the experience. Hard doesn’t mean bad. Hard is the price we pay for a more meaningful life.
Crisis — read challenge — can make us come alive.
Crisis wakes us up from the coma of an unexamined life.
Crisis enables us to discover who we really are and the impact we have in directing the course of our lives.
Crisis sharpens our focus and clarifies our priorities.
Crisis stretches us to achieve more than we thought possible.
Crisis reveals our strengths.
And crisis is what connects us more deeply to each other than anything else.
And that’s what life is all about. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. Connection is what life is all about.
