des·o·late

/ˈdesələt/

adjective

(of a place) deserted of people and in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness.

Summer is over. The kids are back in school, vacations have been completed, and things are getting back to normal. Right? Not right! There is nothing normal about the world in which we are living. We have become more accustomed to these crazy times, but there is nothing customary about these days.

But summer, oh summer! It was a rescue, right? Probably a little “yes" and a little "no”. We got our heads back above water, cleared out a bit of the cobwebs, and actually rested and recharged a bit. But below the surface, we are still dog-paddling like mad. We are also painfully aware, if we are really honest, of how low our reserves actually are. The batteries have been recharged a bit, but they may run out again at any time. We might get blown over with the slightest puff of wind.

A podcast I love said they asked their staff to give them an estimate of how charged their batteries were. Answer: about 20%. Because of how resilient we humans are and how hard a time some had acknowledging their own depletion, they asked another question: How good a place are you in to handle the next catastrophe?

Your house burning down.
The death of a loved one.
A financial or meteorological disruption.

For me, it seems like things that are far less eventful than those can really knock me off track.

That question can bring a lens of clarity to the conversation. It certainly was an honesty check for me. I am not very prepared at all. As an “ID” in DISC, an Enneagram 8, and an “Activator” in StrengthsFinders, I can usually find the best in any difficulty and power my way through, but even those strengths that I carry seem to be compromised.

But this isn’t a time to get discouraged or overwhelmed with the honesty of our situation. We need to be kind to ourselves and more understanding of others. Everyone is experiencing a great difficulty. That should change the way we treat our own hearts and the hearts of everyone else in our life and leadership arena.

We need to be a little more understanding of other people’s challenges.
We need to not jump to conclusions about people and situations.
We need to give ourselves and others, the benefit of the doubt.
We need to not interpret these times as “normal” by any definition.

We are promised a clearer day, but it most likely isn’t going to be today. And so much about not getting overwhelmed comes from being honest with ourselves. Things are very wacky and will continue to be so. We are not blowing it and the world is not set against us. We are experiencing a great difficulty.

Set some new expectations.

Be generous with yourself and others.

Don’t be caught off guard or surprised.

Breathe.

Consider

How depleted are your batteries?
Are you frustrated that your efforts to restore this summer didn’t provide more substantial fruit?
How are you going to change the way you lead given the times we are living?