Ever been on a roller coaster? It’s fun, terrifying, exciting, heart-pumping, and exhilarating all at the same time. Like life, the roller coaster has valleys and peaks. The difference is that on a roller coaster, the valley only lasts a few seconds before you are back at the top of a peak enjoying the incredible view. In life, it’s not always quite as easy to get back to the top after you hit a valley. So, with that in mind, I want to encourage you this week to master the fast turnaround.
Children and animals have got this skill mastered. We adults, could learn something from them. A child can overcome a rejection very quickly and be back asking for an ice-cream within seconds, often winning out and enjoying that iced magic. Dogs can bounce back from running into a door, and be ready for a pat, ball-chasing, or some food in a heartbeat. Why is it that we, supposedly more evolved human adults, at times have so much trouble bouncing back after a setback?
I was listening to a great audio the other day, and the speaker put it this way: a setback is a set up for a comeback. I love that idea. When we can look at a setback and believe that it is a set up for a comeback, then our minds go into creative solution mode to find ways to use the challenge as a platform to master a fast turnaround. I am sure we can all think of a time when we got battered by a setback. Did you wallow in it, or think about how you could master the fast turnaround? This is a skill it has taken me many years to develop. I am not sure if I would call myself a master, but I am getting better, for sure.
I often wake up feeling anxious. It has been something I have experienced for much of my life. During the week, I woke up one morning with a more heightened feeling than normal. The day before a couple of undesitrable things had happened, I didn’t get a job I was hoping to secure and I had a unsettling incident with someone, Both knocked me around for a short time. I started questioning myself, and wondering if I really am the man I thought I was, and whether I was good enough professionally. Isn’t it crazy how our minds can so quickly take us down into the worst case scenario? Nevertheless, if I am being honest, I woke up the next day feeling pretty useless.
Thankfully I have mastered the fast turnaround. The first thing I did was pray to God for his truth. The second thing I did was exercise to clear my mind. The third thing I did was reflect on the job I missed and my interactions with this person to assure myself I had acted with integrity and did things for the right reasons. The fourth thing I did was talk about it with my mentor to get a fresh perspective. In no time at all, I realised it was not the job job for me, I felt empathy for this person and what they were going through, and immediately I felt better. I felt strong and in control again.
The final thing I did, to make sure my turnaround was complete, was to go out that afternoon and help Pentecost Care feed, connect with, and give clothes to the homeless and marginalised people in Melbourne. There is something about doing for others that brings clarity and perspective into every situation.
When we believe that things happen for us and not to us, then mastering the fast turnaround is a much easier thing to do. I believe that the events of the day before happened for me, to help me stay focused on compassion, empathy, persepctive, and being the best I can be. So, my question to you is, what is hampering you at the moment? What is happening that is holding you back from living the life of joy that you deserve? What if you could believe it is happening for you and not to you? If so, what could you do, right now, to create a fast turnaround? Could you exercise? Could you pray? Could you talk to someone? Could you help another person? Could you focus on what you are grateful for? It is such a simple thing to do. I said simple, not easy, but it will make such a difference in your life.
My podcast this week with A.J. Otjen, and Dan Steffensen, is called Embrace trauma. Wow, talk about a fast turnaround! A.J. wrote a book called Burned Over, about Dan and his experience of getting severely burned in fires. Dan is a master of the fast turnaround after an experience that could have taken him out. Now, just a few short years after the trauma and burns on 65% of his body, he is inspiring people all around the world. It is my greatest encouragement that today and forevermore, no matter what you are going through, master the fast turnaround.