Have you ever driven on a single lane highway going around
the curve of mountains or cliffs without being able to see around to the other
side?
This is a blind curve.
We can digest and understand exactly what this is when provided the
example.
The bigger question is…
- How do you continue to drive to get to the other side?
- Which way do you choose to do this…slowly, tensely, anxiously?
- Do you use extreme caution before you proceed? Where are your eyes and your peripheral vision?
- Do you blindly trust the blind curve?
- Do you enjoy the scenic view as you coast leisurely?
- Or pray to get the curve over with?
- Are you nervous to see what is on the other side?
- Are you the kind of person who has to know?
Whatever your answers are to the above questions will show you
HOW you choose to LINK to the blind curves of your life.
What your answers will reveal, tell you more about who you
are and the way you address your life’s changes and challenges, when your life
takes a turn into the unexpected.
How we humans deal with this blind curve is important. If we
do not understand our methods or choices, or begin to process our own ability to
be flexible or adaptable, we run into larger issues on our journey simply from
not taking the necessary time to process who we are.
Recently, I conducted a study in a focus group to identify
how individuals deal with this blind curve.
Seventy-three percent of the people in this group had never
thought about the blind curve in the context of arriving at the curve organically. Many individuals chose wanting to create
proactive plans to avoid the curve entirely, or make alternative plans of
action in coping, should it happen.
The other twenty-seven percent were more invested in riding out
a blind curve with no actual plan. They approached the process in dealing with
the curve with a “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” mentality, fully
processing that blind curves having significance. This group was less anxious about the curve, with
less attachment to knowing ahead of time, what was around the curve.
What was the difference between the two groups?
The people in the seventy-three percent category... two-thirds of them had never
done any ‘self-help’ before, approaching the focus group from the mindset of
preventative crisis management. They wanted to know what was around the blind curve
in order to prepare. They viewed the curve as a negative instead of as a
positive, being disruptive.
Most of these
people watched the news daily and had news alerts attached to their cell
phones. The other third had at least tried some self-help method before.
While the people in the twenty-seven percent group either
had previous therapy or had some sort of self-improvement routine embedded
regularly into their lifestyle, as it was a chosen priority. They viewed the curve from a more neutral
perspective like a weather change.
There was not as much emotional attachment
to the blind curve’s offerings on the other side. These people also watched
less news, and had very limited social media accounts, with nine percent in
this group unplugging their social media entirely or never starting.
Identifying the differences was key to understanding how
information was processed in the brains, and the anticipation/anxiety related
to the ‘plug in’ factor of what people are exposed to in terms of information,
and handling boundaries of limitation to external influencers in life changes.
With that said, how did YOU answer the proposed questions
above and what is your automatic response to the blind curves of change in your
life?
When you are thrown into a situation of having to trust or
have faith, how do you fare?
Are you quick to want to solve an issue immediately?
If so, why? If not,
why not? Or do you surrender to what you
cannot control?
What choices you make for yourself in the process of your
own transformation may weigh heavily upon how you identify with the blind
curve, as well as how you handle stress, cope with your life’s disruptors, and
deal with change as a whole.
This can also affect your health and your immune system with
how frequently you get sick, or how rapidly you heal after an injury or surgery.
It can even deal with your sleep patterns, energy levels, and the way you feel
and process your own emotions, how you digest food and absorb its nutrients
properly.
What you remain open to learn, process, and expand is up to
you. But regardless of which percentage
group you fall into, stress does NOT need to be part of the process in dealing
with the blind curves of life.
Whether or not you subscribe to the outcome of what arrives
around life’s changes and challenges and blind curves, you can step into a
position of releasing anxiety, frustration, struggle, and fear surrounding what
lies ahead.
Faith and trust are part of this process, and your own “human”
reactions, while normal and humanly natural may sometimes override your soul’s
higher consciousness acknowledgment.
The key is to grab ahold of what creates the stress and
crush it by pure surrender. It is in the processing of understanding your own ways
in handling the blind curve of the unknown, do you find the solutions for what
will work for you to best deal with stress before it takes you into an
unhealthy place.
You have the power to combat stress your way once you
acknowledge it exists. But without fully comprehending what your auto-response
is to stress, you won’t be able to resolve what triggers your reactions to life’s
blind curve.
Take a moment to examine your answers to the questions I’ve
proposed so you can understand yourself better.
From here, you can see what your responses are and how you can change
the responses that may trigger the stress within you to deal with change as it
happens.
When you see what your habits have become, you can more
easily recognize them when they are triggered, so that you can keep stress at
bay in new change situations.
Always buckle up and drive responsibly and make sure you enjoy the ride.
Namaste.
