Crisis and the Olympics

Over the past 3 weeks, like millions of people the world over, I have been glued to the Olympics.  Unlike my sister, who took vacation so she could totally devote herself to the daily display of grit and glory, I had to work. Or I chose to.

 

I chose to work because I have been labouring on a project of love which had its genesis 4 years ago in the financial meltdown.  I saw so many people going through crises and feeling lost, unable to move, shaken and stuck.  I have had more than my share of crises,from which I have learned much so I wrote a book then on “Free and Laughing in Crisis: How to Turn Moments of Crisis into Opportunities to Heal, Love and Laugh”.  I didn’t publish it, as the crisis seemed to pass by the time I completed it.

 

Years later, it occurred to me that there are ALWAYS crises and that my insights were still relevant and useful. So I decided to dust off my as yet unpublished book and create an audio course that would be readily accessible and helpful.  I started this project in February, and it should have taken 1 month ….. I was still working on it in July!  That in and of itself was a crisis!

 

So there I was, glued to the TV AND glued to my laptop, working on my Crisis program.  And as I watched, I realized yet again how important crises are.   A crisis is literally a turning point.  It presents a situation where we HAVE to change IF we do not want to continue the pain.  Many people do choose to continue with the pain, and so remain in crisis-mode.  What set the athletes apart is that so many of them had experienced serious crises … yet they chose to triumph and were at the Olympics, performing to their best and even winning medals!

 

For example, Usain Bolt, the famed sprinter and my fellow countryman, repeated his golden hat-trick from Beijing at the London Olympics.  There was much doubt about whether he could do it.  Judging from his performance at the Jamaica National Trials in July, at which I was present, I wondered too.  For the great unbeatable Usain Bolt was beaten – twice!  For us Jamaicans, this was a SERIOUS national crisis!  In post-race interviews, Bolt stated that being beaten was a wakeup call for him to get really serious about his training (and I guess only Bolt could get serious 1 month before the Olympics and perform the way he did).  I recalled too how in 2004, a lanky, uncoordinated 17 year old Bolt was chosen for the Jamaican team.  He performed HORRIBLY, and many in Jamaica were incensed that he represented us!  4 years later, he had turned his crisis into opportunity and did the unthinkable – 3 gold medals and 3 World Records.

 

The Olympics are over, and so is the gestation period for my audio course.  I am soon to launch.  There are always crises – the only issue is how we respond: do we stay down or do we rise and take advantage of the opportunities that they present?