unshakeable faith

I recently acquired a flag to hang in my office, above my workstation, with a simple message:

I purchased it and decided to hang it prominently for one simple reason—because I—we, as people—should remind ourselves that no matter what the world throws at us, we’ll think of something. It reminds me that we can figure it out, solve the problem, or find a way around it.

When faced with difficulty or pain, it can be so easy to become avoidant, fall into destructive coping patterns, or tell ourselves this is how it will always be, so there is no use trying. To feel helpless and like a victim. I know I can do this sometimes (hence the flag!).

But that isn’t useful. Even if we are victims, thinking of ourselves as one doesn’t get us where we want to go. We can’t solve problems we believe have no solution or agency to solve.

The antidote, then, is to embrace our agency. To recognize that often (to quote Jack Sparrow), the problem isn’t the problem. It’s the perception of the problem that is the problem. Savvy? 

Put another way, just because we have a thought doesn’t mean we have to engage with it. We can notice our patterns and ideas and recognize them for what they are—ephemeral narratives—and then seek to break them and replace them with more effective ones, ones centered around giving us confidence and faith in our ability to find our way forward.

People aren’t rocks. They are thinking beings capable of problem-solving and engineering their way to solutions. Maybe not always in the most ideal, perfect way, but every obstacle in life has an answer or workaround.

Of course, some problems may require collective action to resolve (like climate change), but very few challenges we face in our personal lives are things we can’t solve on our own or with help from family or friends (if we dare to ask for it).

So, try to believe in yourself and build unshakeable faith. Not in your infallibility, but that no matter what life throws at you,

You’ll think of something.