I have come to see that everyone has something stressful and negative going on. I hear of emotional, physical, or financial crises in the lives of friends and family. Professionally, librarians face scary and intimidating situations at work. So, what can we do?

We can slog our way through it. Use various techniques to keep a positive mindset. Work on self-care. While these are good ways of coping with what we face each day, we can take a step beyond them. Years ago, I learned the term “Chopportunity.” Blending the words Challenge and Opportunity, it serves as a reminder that a challenge can provide an opportunity. Knowing the term is great but translating it into action can be a challenge in itself.

LaRae Quy explains how we can accomplish this in This Is How Adversity Can Improve the Way You Think. She notes we tend to say, “when things return to normal,” but Quy asks if you really want to return to what was. This is what a Chopportunity it is. You have a chance to have things be better than they were. To do so requires focused thinking. Quy gives these four steps for doing so.

1. Find the Philosopher Within – To do so, Quy says you need to know what is true, and how you should live your life based on what you believe to be true. As librarians we know how to find out what is true. Your core values tell you how to live your life based on that. Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” If you are unsure of exactly what this means for you, consider writing your eulogy. What would you want people to say about the life you led? Are you living a life that would earn those words?
2. Look for the Opportunity in Every Crisis – It’s the Chopportunity. Quy says the Chinese character for Crisis and Change Point are the same. Every crisis marks a change. What do you do about it?  Think of what you would want to change about your job and what you can do to make that a reality. In your school, this may be the moment you decide to step up to leadership because of the ongoing challenges in other libraries. You could start some monthly workshops for teachers.  On a larger level, you might marshal your resources from your state and national associations and make your presence known in the fight to defend intellectual freedom. As Gandi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
3. Take a Lesson from the Stoics – Quy explains the Stoics would consider every possible adversity. Senecca advised Romans to “Rehearse your adversity in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck.”  It seems a scary thing to do, but it gives you the opportunity to prepare for the worst, at least mentally. Consider contingency plans for the possibilities. This gives you the ability to react rationally rather than in a panic when a crisis occurs. The idea Quy says is, “when you prepare for adversity, you diminish its bite when it happens.”
4. Hunt the Good Stuff – Whatever your favorite news source is, the oft-quoted saying “if it bleeds, it leads,” is true. I have switched to music when I’m in the car because listening to the news makes me anxious. Apparently, research has shown that it takes five positive items of information to overcome a single negative one. You may have to work to find the good stuff, but it’s worth it.

Life is not easy, but it’s what we have. What we do with it, how we choose to react when things go wrong or the unexpected happens, is up to us. Consider what how you can grow as a leader – and a person – when you learn how to use adversity as a step to the next great thing.