2021- in- review & beginning -of- 2022
We come and go to life alone…
This has been a year with its high highs and low lows, it’s been a strange disorienting but also creative experience for me, a real discovery!
It is well known that building a personal attitude not only to surviving but thriving over very challenging times has a lot to do with skills, vision, resources, action plan, health and excellent personal shape.
Coping with big difficulties without stepping back of your personal path and consciously or unconsciously selected orientation, while psychology, self-confidence and adaptation are usually under-appreciated and rarely gets high attention, yet they are the most important part of building a winning behaviour, to distinguish signals from noise, to navigate in difficult times and motivate others (and yourself) to follow.
This year definitely had high highs, but the highs are quite easy for anyone to deal with: you have a special dinner, you dance, you drink few glasses of wine that specific night, you celebrate the success with your team, share the victories with your friends and life partner, you recall a memorable trip with your family, you are motivated by a new creative project that has been developed by you etc.
What’s harder to deal with are the lows, but I’m talking about the ‘real lows’ , when important situations and things don’t work out as you expect them to. Examples include friends and relatives passing away, having an important colleague resign, a prominent project which would positively have impacted the life of many failed at the last minute, an unwelcome family situation was not expected but occurred, experiencing financial stress through a shortage of money while you were ready to buy your dreamed home, a competitor winning a big partnership deal at your expense because of your inertia and dilatoriness etc.
Some of these happened to me at some point in the last year. And the only way through all the shit which I discovered and want to share with you is to make sure you talk honestly (and not necessarily out loud) to yourself every day -and-in the right way by continuously feeding your inspiration and rationale to move forward.
There are also certain ways you can look at problems to quickly figure out if they’re potential “destroyers’’ of your personal path or if they’re mirrored opportunities to discover your untapped potential, your hidden talent, a late discovered life’s shift & path forward, or just bumps along the way which should be solved without essentially harming or deeply frustrating you but rather welcoming these moments.
Likewise, in my case, most lows I feared never materialized, but the thing is that instead of shaping an alternative approach to look only at things objectively and problems rationally by generating solutions, I wasted much time stressing over the “what if’s” which didn’t help get the negative thoughts out of my head quickly.
But, what’s the worst thing that can happen if someone fails? Suppose your personal plans don’t come to fruition. What’s really the worst thing that can happen?
You have to start again? So what!
Your lifestyle takes a bit of a hit? So what!
Your pride gets crushed? So what!
You lost money? That’s hard to see, and you might come close to a bump but your wheels rarely, if ever, fall off!
The odds of everything falling apart are so small that most times it’s not even worth considering. Step back, be aware of how you feel and do whatever it takes to manage your own psychology — because in the end that’s really all that matters.
I discovered that one key to maturing as a personality especially within big personal difficulties is to know when you’re just not up to working as you normally would if you want to catch the next wave of evolution and adapt your professional style to a new normal which is impossible to sidestep or deny. When this feeling comes, its best to tune in to your thoughts and feelings, don’t fight it and do not spend too much time thinking about what other’s do, this will run you into the ground.
Better go out from your ‘regularly’ and continues to make progress in the same or in other areas without fear, this was my lesson. What’s the one thing you do that excites the hell out of you? It could be exercise, horse-riding, painting, public speaking, helping someone, writing a book, volunteering, video gaming, on line self-confidence seminars, travelling, gardening, cooking, photography or design lessons.
Whatever it is, do it regularly to top up your dopamine levels. If you don’t have a vice, spend some time to find one. Try a lot of new things and keep the ones that make you come alive.
My point is that while you might struggle to execute your vision, recognising the importance of your unlimited personal development to cope with all difficulties is not only a must of survival but opportunity for self-improvement which cannot be neglected.
We should understand that now we open our eyes to a world very different from what we know, this is not the world we had lived, nothing is the same. I understand if we are vulnerable and terrified due to this.
‘’Who am I in the new environment?’’ ‘
’What choices should I make to avoid being disproved?’’
‘’Who will give me the answer?’’
But now we owe it to ourselves to make the big decisions. Many people care about giving you their opinion but the right person is yourself. So many people in our lives, but everyone is passing by, because that’s what people do. The only constant in the equation is yourself, he works tirelessly and always underground under our skin, at the core of our being, where we guard him.
So we need to take care of ourselves and love our existence.
– Do not fear to put concrete limits of what you stand for and tolerate
– Do not be forced into situations that oppress you.
– Don’t impose on the people who don’t deserve it.
– Do not kill your dreams, don’t hold yourself back to where you have all the potential to go forward.
Only in this way will we feel happy, only in this way will we be grateful and this will be done outwardly. Otherwise we will always experience a permanent internal conflict that spoils everything in our daily lives, no matter how big or small and we will pass on our anger and responsibility to others, we will be unable to concentrate on our goals and we will ultimately blame even the first person in the queue for breathing.
Very important: Do not forget to express your gratitude and honour those who trusted you and especially those who based their dreams on your support and guidance.
For us we are operating in the Agro-food industry we have to admit & appreciate how blessed we are for being in a fast-growing segment of the agriculture input market, and among highly attractive business opportunities which will have a long lasting benefit for all actors are performing in Agro-industry.
But most of all, don’t forget to thank those who tried in vain and will continue trying to inhibit you and put obstacles in the way of what you stand for and what you create.
All they manage is simply to help you mobilise to be more creative, to discover even more your new limits, your inexhaustible power and your love for what you do.
Hey, do you listen? We come and go to life alone...
Sincerely yours,
Panos (Panayiotis) Chamakiotis
Barcelona, December 2021
