Lessons learned from Viktor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning'

So, what has the COVID-19 pandemic been like for you?  

Recently I finished reading Viktor Frankl’s famous book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ and was reminded of just how much power we each have to choose how we perceive and experience reality. 

While it’s true that few experiences in life can be compared to the horrors of WWII concentration camps many lessons can be taken from this incredible book and applied to the times we are living through now.

Among the most relevant is this:

“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 one’s own way.”

The simple truth nothing can make us feel anything.  Of course, people and circumstances can make the job of maintaining a positive and hopeful outlook challenging, ultimately, we choose how we respond when life throws curve balls at us. 

When our state goes into lockdown, we have the power to choose how we feel.  Do we focus on what we have lost and injustices we perceive or do we instead focus our minds on what we have to be grateful for, or feel certain about.  

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

There is nothing any of us can do to control the circumstances we all find ourselves in.  All we can do is make wise choices about the options we have available to us and keep putting one put in front of the other as we forward slowly toward our future.  

How frantically we push back against reality, how hard we rail against our circumstances dictates how draining and damaging our experiences are.  Peaceful acceptance of the things outside of our control is essential to enduring adversity.  

Frankl quotes Nietzsche when he says “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.

Humanity has survived other pandemics and we can reasonably expect some day that the one we are experiencing now will also come to an end.  Remember that this is a relatively short window of time in the history of man, and there will be a life after Covid19.  

Maintaining a sense of purpose and continuing to strive to achieve our goals is essential to  our health and wellbeing right now.  

Something else that Frankl said that I think is especially worth noting right now is:

“I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”