As I was traveling to the North Shore of Lake Superior, I came across some ground fog. Ground fog is created when the damp ground cools adjacent air causing the air temperature to fall and reach the dew point. This fog lies close to the ground and can create difficult driving conditions – even while the rest of the sky is generally clear.
I experienced this fog intermittently along my drive to the North Shore. As I was driving, I would see clear skies and visibility with the fog only being seen in the distance. As I approached the patch of fog, visible clarity disappeared and I couldn’t see more than five feet ahead of me. It struck me that this kind of ground fog was a good metaphor for our lives right now as we are living in prolonged disruption.
Expect patches of fog
In a prolonged disruption, like a pandemic, we will experience days where the road ahead is clear and foreseeable. On other days, we will experience unexpected fog in the distance that we will need strategies to get through.
I offer these suggestions to help us get through the fog:
- Slow down when your vision is impaired by the“fog” – i.e., what you don’t know and can’t fully see. In a car, when your visibility drops to 5 feet, going fast is dangerous because you can’t see your surroundings. Slowing down is a way to know what lies ahead and avoid an accident.
- Look for the markers that keep you safe. Driving slowly is a start, but the lines in the center of the road are to keep you in your lane. Looking for signs that you are making progress and doing so safely helps you stay on course.
- Keep moving. Sometimes there is a temptation to stop and pull off to the side of the road when the future is unknown, but pulling off the road is not always as safe as you might expect. Nature is in constant motion and when that stops, we begin regressing because we are no longer evolving. Nature reinforces the strategy of staying in motion.
These three strategies can help you get through times of intermittent fog during prolonged disruption. One aspect of ground fog is that if you keep moving (with safety in mind) you get through it, and the fog will begin to break apart as you begin to regain clear vision. In our work, COVID-19 has impacted many of the dynamics that used to be predictable. Strengthening our ability to let go of what used to be predictable and continuing to move into the future is an essential leadership skill.
I like it. I explained it like this: Many times I, and others, have noted that we should be careful of the light at the end of the tunnel because it could be another freight train. In reflecting on that thought the other day it came to me that this is the way life is, one freight train after another. It’s always another freight train. The good news inside of this somewhat dark reflection is that during the time between the last train and the next train we are given some light to see the track ahead of us for a period of time before we are knocked for another loop. It seems to be how we change and grow. My thought for the day.
Or in the words of David Whyte – “If you can see your path clearly laid out before you —- It’s not your path”
Enjoy your day
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