Tag: dragons

Lesson 4- Standing Strong in the Emotional Fire (11-19-25)

Last week was about the invisible backpack.  This week is lesson 4: the importance of standing strong in the emotional fire.

The other day one of my kids was having a really hard time emotionally.  If my kid was a dragon, they were spitting fire everywhere.  It would have been easy to tell them to just go to their room on their own to sort it out. It would have been easy to tell them to suck it up and stop making it such a big deal.  It would have been easy to step away from the situation, so we wouldn’t get sucked into the energy.  Instead, my wife and I sat there.  As my kid unleashed fire like a dragon, we sat there.  We let the fire go around us and we walked through it.  We didn’t try to stop the fire.  We sat there with them, and when they stopped breathing fire, we sat there and comforted them until they were whole again.

Let’s make some connections.  Standing in the midst of the meltdown wasn’t comfortable.  It wasn’t pretty.  It was exhausting and difficult.  It wasn’t where my wife and I wanted to be.  It was where my wife and I needed to be.  We needed to show them that their fire didn’t scare us.  We needed to be there to show that our love is stronger than any feelings/meltdowns/fire they could throw at us.  We needed to be there to show that we will always be a safe and firm foundation for them.  It’s not like we did anything magic.  We just stayed there, softly speaking words of encouragement, reminding them that they are loved and it’s okay to feel strong feelings.  For our family, we will always choose to stand strong in the fire.  (By the way, watching my wife sit in that fire was one of the most beautiful and strong things I’ve seen. I hope you’re all blessed to have someone like her.)

The challenge: In a world filled with humans who are often scared to allow their vulnerability to show, will you be strong enough to stand in the fire with them?  Will you be strong enough for them to lean on?

Bonus- I also wrote a poem inspired by these events.  You can check that out here https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-embry-979831b7_love-emotions-dragons-activity-7396885754817384448-Lkfc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABjcjy0BSioATZ2Tfprhg_c9r0itVMM87PQ

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Vacation and Preparing for Dragons (10-5-22)

Pretty sure this is the embodiment of going through busy airports

See the source imageHappy Wednesday,

This week we will kick off a series based on reflections I had during my most recent vacation.  My family went on a cruise that visited Belgium, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England.  This week is about vacations and preparing for dragons.   

Before we went on vacation, my wife and I sat down with the kids.  My wife explained, “This is not a vacation.  This is going to be an adventure.  We will have main goals, side missions, and treasure!  AND there will be dragons that we will need to slay or avoid.  Luckily, I know we are tough enough to defeat those beasts.”  The kids chuckled at the time, but there could not have been a more fitting description.  While we had an amazing time, we also ran into quite a few dragons like navigating new and anxiety inducing environments, tight layovers and needing to sprint through airports, lost luggage, our itinerary being completely changed due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth (no joke), navigating the streets and tubes of London with suitcases, and more.  Whenever one of these challenges would arise, we would all say, “This is just another dragon to slay,” and after we got through it, we would celebrate surviving the beast.  As silly as it may sound, the simple fact that we went into vacation knowing there would be dragons gave us the strength and confidence to better deal with them.

What does this have to do with anything?  At work, how often do we start a workstream by acknowledging that we EXPECT to fight dragons?  I’d argue, not often enough.  Usually, we plan and assume that everything will go according to plan.  We build timelines with minimal buffer as if there will be no bumps.  Now this might sound good in theory, but then once we run into a dragon, we aren’t ready mentally do deal with it.  Does this sound familiar?  I know this happens to me all the time.  Think of how different it would be if we started projects by talking about potential dragons we expect to encounter and mentally preparing for unexpected dragons.  How would that change our preparation?  How would that change our ability to mentally pivot to deal with the dragons?

The challenge: How can we do a better job of preparing for the dragons we will inevitably face?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry