As we enter the New Year, we should take a quick look back at 2020 and decide what we learned from it. Even in the hardest times, we have the ability to change our perceptions and learn and think. That is one of our abilities that separates us from other animals. This critical thinking ability is unmatched in the animal kingdom. We can look at a tragic event and draw positive conclusions from it that not only make us (and others) feel better, but may even serve us moving forward when we are faced with other tragic or negative events. Let's face the hard facts, 2020 will not be the only hard year we go through. There are many more to come, but having the ability to quickly change a negative event (or at least our perception of one) into a learning experience or a challenge is one of the cornerstones of being resilient. With practice, this becomes automatic.
THE ROAD TO BECOMING SUPERHUMAN
How do we become superhuman? Is it possible? Perhaps not in the Marvel or DC sense, but it is possible to supersede our biological stress response with the right approach and application of that approach. We are biologically designed to seek homeostasis. This condition is the perfect balance point where we thrive and survive. When it gets cold, we shiver or seek warmth. When it gets hot, we jump into the water to cool off or go into the shade. This homeostasis takes place in our bodies. Too much adenosine in the brain? We go to sleep. Too little, we wake up. We are constantly seeking balance. How we become superhuman is seeking out the imbalance points in our lives on purpose and turning them into learning experiences and reflective positions where we learn and bounce forward (not back) into better positions. For example, if you are a restaurant owner, perhaps you look back at 2020 as a learning experience to change your business to become more virtual and less in person. Takeout restaurants and fast food restaurants have actually not suffered at all in the pandemic; their business went up. Perhaps a restaurant owner can learn from this and adapt his business style to incorporate more takeout in the future? Embracing this change and adapting to its challenges pushes us in the direction of a superhuman. Humans of long ago did not have the ability to critically think to the dimensions that we can today. We have evolved. And that is why we are superhumans. We take tragedies and turn them into positive events that we can learn from and teach others about.
CONTROLLED INVINCIBILITY
This is the feeling that you get when you are in a state of flow. We have all had it I hope. Perhaps when surfing on a super pitchy wave and making the drop, flying down the side of a mountain on a mountain bike and perfectly landing all of the turns, jumping out of an airplane on your first solo dive and sticking the landing; all of these events and more contribute to our flow states and that “I can do anything” feeling that we get immediately after those events. Taking this controlled invincibility and applying it to our everyday lives (in the absence of the heart pumping events that I described above) is tough but not impossible to do. It just takes work. That work is what will bring us closer to superhuman status.
THE STORM IS COMING
A couple of years ago, our city was destroyed by a level 5 hurricane. As we dug ourselves out of the disaster, we were happy that it was over. Lots of us learned to live through the adversity and some of us actually enjoyed working through it. As the pandemic raged on over the Spring and Summer and still affects us as I write this, I can’t help but think that the hurricane prepared us for this. We were ready for anything and when anything showed up, those of us who learned from the hurricane were ready. We knew instinctively that another storm, proverbial or real, was going to hit us. And it did.
CONCLUSION and ASSIGNMENT
As we give a sigh of relief when the clock strikes midnight tonight, and look back on 2020, we should look at ourselves even more critically and think, what could I have done better this year? Could I have changed the way I look at adversity and turned that look into more of a challenge or positive? Harnessing this power, and believe me this is not an easy thing to do, can help turn the tide on the negative events in your life, help you to control your stress, and help you to help others by being the example in the utter face of adversity. Others will gravitate to you when things go wrong, because you will know how to handle it better than anyone. You will take another step toward being a superhuman. Take the step.
Dr. N