What to do When 'Beleaguered' is our Reality?

Get to the Trees

(Originally posted in the weekly BHL Coaching Newsletter)

“Beleaguered,” a woman in the back row chimed in.

I had just asked a couple hundred communicators/storytellers at the inaugural Longhorn Communicators Network event what one word described their day thus far.

People had responded so far with…

Great!
Overwhelmed.
Busy.
Productive.

But when beleaguered arrived - something shifted.

I heard a few affirming ‘uh huhs’ and a number of knowing head nods.

Beleaguered - originally it’s a word that describes a city surrounded by an an army (be = ‘around or about’ and leger = ‘camp or army’). Nowadays, we talk about it as being under persistent trouble or stress or feeling surrounded, overwhelmed.

Wow.

The response immediately reminded me of what a client shared with me a couple of weeks ago when he described his leadership reality this way: “The Visigoths are at the gate.”

What I am discovering is that - for many - there is another layer to the stress, anxiety, and overwhelm that has characterized much of modern life.

Now, there’s also a weightiness.
A sense of threat.
A sense of trouble.

What is one to do in such times?

Much could and should be said on this, but for now I’ll simply invite you to the place I invited the folks at the University of Texas last week in my talk, “Root to Rise.”

To the trees.

Nothing about the trees is remotely hurried, rushed, or beleaguered.

Among them, there’s a quiet...

an expansiveness…

a strength…

a beauty…

a generosity…

a stunning level of surprising life this time of year.

Sit before some trees for even a few minutes it becomes quite clear that though the trees have no hustle (at all) about their way of being, they sure know a whole lot about what it takes to grow something of enduring beauty and strength, nourishment and hospitality.

They know a whole lot about what it takes to grow something that forever changes the landscape for good.

The common denominator to all of these trees that bring about such flourishing - even across landscapes once barren, desolate, and even beleaguered by the worst of humanity?

A strong root system.

Look, I see no near-term end to the many troubles and challenges that surround and threaten many of us in our day and time.

What I do see, however, is the distinct possibility for a different kind of leader to emerge in this time.

One whose day is not swayed to and fro by…

every headline,
market movement,
and workplace fire.

Rather, these leaders know their singular and most important work…

…day after day…

…is to root down into…

1. Who they are at their highest and best.

2. How they are gifted.

3. Where they are called to act on their gifts for such a time as this.

These leaders nourish this gift and calling above all else.

And they do it alongside other trusted trees because, as you know, a thriving forest is all about strong, mutually nourishing roots.

Something strange and wondrous begins to happen when one spends stretches of time in solitude, in the company of trees, far from the bustle of the human world with its echo chamber of judgments and opinions - a kind of rerooting in one’s deepest self-knowledge, a relearning of how to simply be oneself, one’s most authentic self. - Maria Popova

How would you assess the health of your root system these days?

What helps you nourish your roots?

Any ‘signs of spring’ in your life right now - the external growth emerging from inner grounding?

And if all of that is hard to consider and things feel dead, dry, or beleaguered… you know the other gift of a thriving forest?

When one tree gets sick, other trees begin sending nutrients via their roots.

Automatically.

Notice any nourishment coming your way via the gift of another?

Notice any inner promptings to send some nourishment to another today?

That’s the wisdom of a growing forest at work.