I have just been reminded that last New Year’s Eve, I wrote to my team saying “Next year we will certainly face change and possibly greater challenges. As role models we must embrace whatever change comes our way…” It is no surprise that this year I could repeat the same message.
One of the most important lessons the armed forces taught me, is that when you think things could not possibly get any worse, brace yourself - because they often do!
As we close out a very different year and anticipate start of the next, many people may be wanting to kick 2020 into touch and start 2021. We can be forgiven for seeing the recent progress on the vaccines optimistically; with some people hoping or believing a return to normality is in sight. I am more realistic, as the increasing difficulties due to Coronavirus over the last nine months, has brought a familiar observation to mind.
In the forces we have a saying ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy’. Which means even the best laid plans need to change in the face of reality. So I believe the developing situation in the UK and possibly further afield, will hold a few twists and turns yet over the next months. We can expect the possibility of further changes, so we need to be resilient. As resilience is my favourite topic, I remember an impactful story I’d like to share:
As part of survival training I attended a lecture delivered by a US pilot who had been shot down in the Vietnam War and spent many years as a POW. He was starved and held in a tiny cage too small to stand upright, then repeatedly tortured, in an attempt to force a confession or anything worthy of propaganda. However, wanting to remain loyal to his country he tried to resist, but his captors inflicted injuries with such intensive pain to the point he could no longer stand it. He agreed to give information just to stop the pain, but when he was dropped from his stress position the pain eased slightly, enough for him to regain some resolve to begin spinning a web of lies to placate the interrogators. Whilst it gave some element of respite and a fragment of control, before long he was strung up and beaten again. Despite all this he still managed to endure his brutal captivity and resist giving away sensitive information for over seven years. Out of several thousand American prisoners captured, he was one of only a few hundred who survived to be released. The comment I most remember was his explanation of why most did not survive. It was due to their false optimism.
The optimists believed they would be released by Christmas, but that Christmas came and passed. Then they thoughts they would be out by the Easter, but that came and passed too. Probably in time for Fourth of July, but no. Then as the second Christmas approached and with no end in sight, those who depended upon their optimism and didn’t accept the reality of their situation, apparently lost all hope.
This story has been repeated many times over the years and has even been included in several books since, but is a very relevant lesson for our current turbulent climate. We all need hope and optimism, but not false hope. So how does this relate to us in the midst of a global pandemic?
Tighter restrictions are already in place, indicating the virus may take more fighting than we previously understood, further changes and complications may occur. By the same token, some things can also happen better than expected. It is a dynamic situation we find ourselves in today, so leaders, parents and individuals need mental and emotional resilience. This starts by not relying on everything we have planned or hoped for to happen as a certainty, and being optimistic but realistic in our thoughts and conversations. So at this New Year, if making new plans, we can aim for the best whilst still preparing for the worst. This is not pessimism, it is realism that may help keep our teams, families and friends safe and well.