well being

Why I Wake Up in the Morning: Leadership Lessons from Blue Zones

In mid-July I participated in a conference sponsored by FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention. The gathering kicked off a year-long leadership institute for people working in child abuse prevention around the country. The FRIENDS Leadership Institute’s purpose is to develop a cohort of leaders with the skill to move their organizations toward family-strengthened primary prevention whatever positions they are in. The conference featured national leadership experts and many opportunities for peer learning. It aimed to expose participants to thought provoking systems leadership that participants might adapt to their own contexts.

The institute opened with a presentation describing the work of an organization called Blue Zones.

Sitting in the Ugly: Staying with Difficult Emotions and Discovering the Gifts That Can Arise

“All hell is breaking loose around here again,” Daniel stated flatly.

“What is?” I asked.

“ Covid is back and my team is telling me they just can’t go through this again. What do I say to them? I can’t reassure them that everything is going to be all right. Yet I can’t just join in and add my own concerns to the mix. Everyone is burned out and anxious about what could happen. How do I help them prepare for what they may have to deal with?

I truly didn’t know what to say. It was my second coaching session in a row where someone opened up about a situation that was generating difficult emotions. I didn’t have an easy answer. Well, I could have come up with something but I’m afraid it would’ve come off as superficial and canned.

But what to do instead?

Book Review: Preparing Yourself for Life's Challenges

Toughness Training for Life
by James E. Loehr, The Penguin Group, 1993

I first read this book in 1993. I found it to be a useful application of methods used to train professional athletes for the rest of us. The book proposed that instead of focusing on stress reduction--which in today's world is pretty impossible--we need to focus on toughening up in order to handle more stress and be "healthier, happier, and more productive."