Surviving life’s crises by living a purposeful life

​It has been two weeks now since many of the schools, daycares, and public services have closed their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been a busy week providing counselling services but I have been amazed at hearing the stories about resiliency, strength, and the healthy choices people are making during this tough time.
With all the news stories and social media posts, the theme that sticks out for me the most is survival. This health care crisis has been one of the biggest and most serious events in our lifetime and it already has had, and will continue to have, an effect on us in so many different ways.
One of the books I have remembered and thought of recently regarding survival is Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist from Austria. Although his story is about experience living in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, our current global health crisis still creates some similar circumstances such as illness, loss, fear, and isolation. Stories like Frankl’s can inspire us and also put things into perspective. We will have our own stories about survival through this major event in history, just like we have stories from before and there will be stories after this is all said and done.
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl observed and theorized a few different factors as to how people can survive suffering and tragedy. I want to focus on three of those points: choice, purpose, and meaning.
Choice:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose their own way” – Victor Frankl
When circumstances in our lives become challenging, we are more at risk to make unhealthy choices that can affect us - and those around us - and there are always consequences to these actions. There are times when we might feel as though we have limited options to choose from and this can make things more complicated and dreadful. Regardless of our shortcomings and negative experiences, we have choices on how we can respond to difficult circumstances and we have decisions to make for which we must take responsibility. In this situation now, these choices might be:
• Practicing self-care - making healthy choices with sleep, eating, and exercise, limiting substances and unhealthy foods
• Engaging in activities we enjoy
• Asking for help, talk about your feelings- especially with the people you live with
• Being considerate to others and helping one another
• Reducing unnecessary stressors
• Setting limits, boundaries, and expectations with others
• Accepting what we have no control over vs. what we do have control over
Making the right choices for ourselves moment to moment can influence our thoughts and feelings and give us a sense of hope. When we choose to engage in meaningful activities and connect with others, and ourselves, it makes it easier to find purpose and experience pleasure.
Meaning and Purpose:
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for” – Viktor Frankl
Frankl believed that we can find our own meanings when we:
• Adjust our attitude about suffering and find some purpose in it
• Create daily and long term plans for ourselves and/or our family
• Engage in creative projects like art and music
• Develop relationships such as reaching out to family and friends by telephone calls, text, or emails
• Help others by giving and sharing
• Create goals based on what you value and work towards these goals
• Engage in our hobbies and interests
• Continue to foster learning and personal development
• Search for gratitude
Finding meaning in our lives should be an everyday practice regardless of what is happening in the world.
In a world that is more connected than ever before, it’s surprising that more people seem to suffer from loneliness, mental health, and addiction. It doesn’t take a pandemic like COVID-19 to create these problems. These problems already existed and will continue to exist unless we help ourselves and other people despite our differences and struggles. By focusing on making good choices and on what gives us meaning can help us build resilience, motivation, and live life with purpose.