The Opportunity in Uncertainty

While I was working in the garden this morning, I reflected on the way a simple thing such as edging the flower beds relates to many things in my life. It is a Wednesday in the middle of June. How do I have time to work on my garden? I have time because an unexpected change with the financial stability of the company I was working for led to my position — and those of about ten percent of the company — being eliminated. Thankfully, I have prepared for this my whole adult life. I have no debt, and enough resources to continue operating in a normal fashion for a while. Sometimes I catch myself panicking and worrying. I will discuss that in another article.

Because 2020 has been the year of a worldwide pandemic and economic uncertainty, many of you probably have seen unexpected change. Perhaps some of that change has been close to home. If you are feeling any unease at the level of uncertainty around, stick with me. We are going to investigate the positive side of uncertainty, along with some other things I discovered in the garden.

Opportunity

When we are in the midst of uncertainty, our body is likely to begin running through its program for fight or flight. Stress hormones go into the bloodstream in order to prepare us to react quickly. Our focus narrows to how things are affecting us. Our mood drops into fear, anger, sadness, or hopelessness. This is a terrible state to be in when trying to find creative solutions so we can build a better future. We need a better state so we can start our upward spiral.

My coaches have suggested I ask myself, “What is great about this?” If that works for you, use it. If you are like me, the resistance comes up right away when presented with that question. I discovered a better question for me is, “What does this allow me to do easily that was difficult before?” The answers to this question reveal the opportunities in your life. For me, the opportunity this spring has been doing a much better job of making the yard and gardens look nice so I enjoy them more.

Speaking of the gardens, this morning’s goal was to continue defining the transition between the gardens and the yard. This involves using a hand tool to create a trench. On one side of the trench is the garden. On the other side is the yard. The work is not strenuous at any given time, but it is exhausting after a few hours. The rewards of this somewhat tedious work, though, are numerous.

The primary reward for me is the crisp line between the yard and the garden. This is a result of the second reward, which is the lack of grass in the garden. That trench creates two areas, with different expectations. If there is grass in the garden, it gets removed right away. If there are volunteer plants growing in the grass, they get removed. Another reward is a small amount of water and erosion control. The trench gives storm water a place to slow down before it continues its journey out of the property. This leads to less erosion downhill from the trench. As the water slows, some of it sinks into the dirt, which reduces my irrigation needs later.

So what does this have to do with opportunities in the midst of change? Change often brings us the opportunity to establish new boundaries in our lives. Those boundaries help us communicate expectations to ourselves and others. Maybe a career change means we have to carve out an hour each day to learn new things. We protect that time on the calendar by establishing a boundary and communicating our expectations as needed. Maybe a change in our schedule means we have time to pursue new personal goals. We can create a list of those goals and ways we will measure our success. That process creates some boundaries that protect our time and modify our behavior.

Where in your life do you have the opportunity to do something new? What boundaries do you need to establish to help you feel successful in your new endeavor? What things are easier to start in your new reality than before the change? How could you make this even more fun?

These are today’s lessons from the garden. Look for more in the coming weeks. The plants keep growing. There is a new lesson almost daily. Sometimes I learn them right away. Other days it takes a few repetitions. I will see you soon.

Do you have questions about this article? Have you used any of the techniques to start something new? I would love to hear from you, either here or on Facebook!