We say that “opportunity is knocking at the door” when we see the light, when the phone rings, or when we receive that email with the “yes” we’ve been waiting for.
We also say it when we see an opening, a new untapped market, or a job offer that would take us in a new and exciting direction.
Do we say it though, when that job of seventeen years suddenly evaporates, or the industry we’ve been banking on takes a hit, or the contractor tells us we need a new roof on our house?
Do we say it when life delivers a hit that evokes our fear and insecurity? Or do we only say it when the sun rises with a crimson sky, the air is crisp, and the birds are singing their good mornings to the world?
Could it be that our greatest opportunities come at the time of our greatest fear and discomfort? Could it be that in our time of discomfort we are actually poised for transformation?
I recently watched a short video by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski On Responding To Stress. It was being passed around the Internet one more time, and while I had seen it before and loved it, this time it really hit home. It’s about how lobsters grow. I won’t spoil the video, you can watch it here, but I’ll share just one quote in which Dr. Twerski says, “Times of stress, are also signals for times of growth.”
Yes, we know this, right? Of course we do if we’ve been paying attention to any of the myriad thought leaders and spiritual gurus of the past fifty years.
But, do we really get it?
If we really get this … feel it in our gut … such that we can face any challenge with excitement for what it may bring, this one knowing greatly simplifies our lives and has the potential to flip the switch on negative thinking and lead us to lives of expanded vision, creativity, and joy.
If we face the challenges with the visceral knowing of this simple truth, then the industry pivot may feel scary, but we’ll be looking for a new opportunity to flow from it. Or the job of seventeen years that we just lost sets us free to explore new directions in life. Or the roof that needs replacing might mean it’s a good time to re-evaluate our home; maybe we remodel, maybe we sell and make a change we’ve been wanting to make.
We can cave in to the stress, or we can see that opportunity is knocking at the door.
