Danger or Opportunity?

What was the last crisis you faced and how well did you navigate it?

As we experience life and its pivotal turning points, our thinking will determine how well we cope and how we choose to handle the circumstances.

One of the most descriptive ways to understand the power of the challenges we often experience is to consider the word “crisis” in Chinese. This language, comprised of symbols, explains crisis with two distinctive and opposing thoughts. Each word represented by a character placed one on top of the other. The top word means “danger,” and the bottom means “opportunity.”

What a vivid mental image the combination of those two words creates! Every crisis indeed provides aspects of danger and unknowns to challenge our mental and emotional health. It is also true that every potential setback presents an opportunity for change, growth, and possible improvements in how we live.

When we experience critical circumstances, we spiral downward until we accept the situation. At that point, we’ll hit rock bottom and begin to climb back out of the emotional pit. As we rise, we will either emerge functioning at a higher level or a lower level than when we encountered the challenge. We will never come out thinking, feeling, and acting the same as when the crisis occurred.

Choosing to think appropriately to see the opportunity—the possibilities that can occur when faced with life’s unfair challenges—will put us on an entirely different path in navigating the situation than if we focus on the aspect of “danger” that might occur.

A line in recording artist Tauren Wells’s song says, “Giving in to feelings is like driving in shadows.” Although there are legitimate times to connect to our feelings, accurate thinking when facing a crucial point in our lives also provides a door of escape from being carried away in unnecessary emotion.

We can choose how we think, even when faced with the most difficult or critical of circumstances.

So the question is, do you focus on the danger or the opportunity when faced with a crisis? How you answer will determine whether you emotionally regress or are matured by the challenge.

Next time you find yourself in a crisis, consider what it would look like to focus on the opportunities instead of the dangers. If necessary, take time to sit and make a list of both aspects and envision how difficult the outcome of your life will be depending on where you fix your time and attention.