Shaping our Identity in the Crucible of 2020

Our identity is being refined and shaped by the changes we are experiencing while in a pandemic. Some of the things that are changing are an affirmation of who we are as people. There are some elements of this change we don’t want to repeat. Those, too, are an affirmation of our identity. We’ve spoken with many people who believe that they will be a changed person when this pandemic is over. We want to draw your attention to the fact that there are small changes happening in the moment. We can pay attention to these changes and remind ourselves that “this is who I am” an not get lost amid all these changes.

Bennis and Thomas define a crucible as “a transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or an altered sense of identity.” And dictionary.com describes it as “a severe, searching test or trial.“

Without question, 2020 has been a testing time for all of us, and, hopefully, it becomes a transformative experience we look back on and remember the good alongside the devastation. Who we are is being shaped by the world around us. We are living through a pandemic, through an economically challenging time (to say the least), and a time of extreme social unrest. 7.6 billion people have not been through this level of collective change and challenge in the history of the world. Much is being revealed, refined, lost, and discovered. 

In this episode of the Leadership Vision Podcast, we invite you to reflect on this current moment to find meaning in and learning from our current world. Surrender to the ways this season is refining you to emerge stronger, more confident, more filled with purpose, and as passionate as ever.

Reflection Questions

Leadership Vision invites you to have a 15 – 30 minute conversation (or more) with someone outside of your immediate daily circle. Talk about how you are doing in the midst of this crucible of change, in the midst of the pandemic.

To guide this conversation, we’d like you to answer the following four questions, and report back to us how it went.

1. What are you most proud of? 
   1. What are we most proud of about yourself, about how you’ve adapted, changed, or responded to this crucible moment?
2. What are you feeling? 
   1. Are you frustrated? Happy? Anxious? Calm? Joyful? Or some combination of whatever sets of feelings you notice.
3. What are you improving? 
   1. What is it about your personal life (with a partner, kids, friends, etc) that you are improving? We are all in the process of making improvements out of the adaptations we are embracing.
4. What are you leaving? 
   1. What from the last five or six months have you decided to leave behind? What will you let go of as you prepare for the next adaptive challenge that will arise?