In most prior years, I have found the summer to be a time when we tend to demonstrate a more relaxed attitude. Children are off school, most of us take some vacation time away from work to travel or enjoy our various pastimes, and the days and evenings are warmer and longer, enabling us to get out and enjoy our own communities. Even when we are at work, our commute is generally easier as traffic tends to be lighter during school breaks.
This year, however, it appears that things around us are more intense. Our communities have been hitting record high temperatures in the past couple of weeks. There have been several wild storms delivering heavy rain that has caused flooding, hail that has damaged crops and cars, strong winds that have blown down trees, and forest fires that have resulted in local damage as well as widespread air quality warnings. Beyond those extreme but natural events, we also read about the high number of tragic accidents on Alberta roads and a number of potential email frauds that are attacking our desk top computers on an almost daily basis. It seems that, with all of these things happening around us, when added to our work responsibilities and the other daily chores, we are constantly under stress to survive.
At times like these, I like to think back and draw on prior events that can help me get through what might appear to be a temporary crisis. What springs to my mind at this time is the old saying “Keep Calm and Carry On”. According to Wikipedia, this saying was first created for a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Interestingly, however, although 2.45 million copies of the poster were printed, and although the air attacks did in fact take place, the poster was hardly ever publicly displayed at that time. A copy was rediscovered in 2000 at a bookshop and it has since been re-issued and widely marketed by a number of private companies. Those companies were able to find the ‘silver lining’ in the ‘cloud’ that brought about the initial purpose of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster.
I believe that one of the most important qualities we have as individuals is the ability to find the silver lining in any cloud that may appear to be over us. I would like to challenge all of us, when a problem or issue appears in front of us, to ask the question – how can I not only address my problem but also turn the change that is required into an opportunity to be more successful?
As always, I welcome ideas, suggestions and any questions that you may have. Please feel free to send them to me at alasdair.smith@bethanyseniors.com. I would love to hear from you about the improvements you have made as a result of overcoming an issue or concern.
Take care,
– Alasdair
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