Emotional agility by Susan David
1. Juni 2022 | von Danica Zeier
Who is Susan David and why is she important for us?
Susan David is an award-winning Harvard Medical School psychologist, best-selling author, keynote speaker and one of the top management thinkers.
From her early years, Susan was exposed to life’s difficulties. She grew up in apartheid South Africa and lost a father to cancer as a teenager. The need to adapt to such a tough reality planted a seed for the concept of emotional agility in her.
Emotional Rigidity versus Emotional Agility
What would you pick, staying the same no matter what, or being open to change and adapting when situation calls for it?
Although many of us consider ourselves the latter, the truth is we often play the poster child for emotional rigidity. And we don’t even realize it!
Emotional rigidity means getting stuck in emotional, behavioural, and thought patterns that do us no good. Emotional agility, on the other hand, means being able to perceive those patterns and change them in a way that is in accord with our values.
Sitting with our sadness, accepting our imperfections, renouncing the false positivity – these are all examples of agile responses to everyday stressful situations. The alternative, ignoring the difficult, can sound alluring, but it also means missing out on all the growth and learning we can achieve!
“Only dead people never get stressed, never get broken hearts, never experience disappointment that comes with failure.”
Key takeaways
Keep in mind that we own emotions, and not the other way around. You can always choose how to react!
Each day brings its own set of tasks and challenges. In that ever-changing world, refusing to change leads to breaking down.
Growth is not always “a walk in the park”. You might sometimes need to step out of your comfort zone, but it will be worth it in the end.
