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Adapt and Thrive
Why adaptability is your greatest asset
With less than 10 days to go until an exam, my older son found out that one of the texts he has been studying all year could not be used as a reference. It was, as Murphy’s Law would have it, his favourite text. Unsurprisingly, he was sent into a bit of a spin by this news. I listened intently as he vented his frustration and stress. He felt like this one piece of news was going to have a huge impact on his likelihood of success in the exam. It would have been easy to take on his frustration and stress. Of course, my mind went straight to the question “how does this happen?”. I could have quizzed him on who was to blame and how we might seek vengeance for this. Instead I chose to listen and empathise. Listening — I mean, really listening — requires me to stop talking and to stop the voice in my head from talking. This presence allows me to understand the situation and assess if my role is purely as a supportive shoulder to cry upon, or if there is action for me to take. I nodded and made the right sounds (the ones you learn over time, as a parent, will signal that you care and you are there).
The following day we had another conversation about the exam. By then, he had discussed the situation with a number of his classmates. He had talked about his Plan B for the exam. He had realised that focusing on the bad news was not…
