An emergency is an unforeseen, severe and often dangerous occurrence requiring immediate attention and action.
However, if it keeps going, it is no longer an emergency; it is a new reality. Something that requires an entirely different approach.
An emergency requires decisive, targeted, and swift actions whose focus is on the source of the pain or danger. Instead, a new reality calls for a creative, holistic and inclusive approach that focuses on the system, not on the problem.
In my life, I experienced or witnessed many situations in which people, teams or organizations, found themselves trapped in an emergency for too long. They failed to transition to the new reality.
In some cases, it happened because the emergency triggered a prompt reaction that brought immediate relief. In shorts, it worked. And that tricked them into making those temporary solutions permanent. However, those exact solutions and structures kept them in survival mode, making them unable to deal constructively with the new reality.
In other cases, the problem was that the choices and actions taken failed to solve, entirely on in part, the emergency. But instead of accepting their new reality, those individuals or organizations insisted and sometimes reinforced solutions and structures designed for emergency situations that were inadequate for a new reality. In doing so, they consumed their energy in a downward spiral, increasing their effort to no avail.
Whatever the reason, if we fail to transition out of the emergency mode and acknowledge the new reality, we may find ourselves trapped into a survival mindset. A mindset that not only hinders our ability to thrive but can significantly compromise our well-being.