Thoughts on Resolution
At what point do people reach ‘resolve’? The resolve to recover after a traumatic incident, the resolve to try something new, the resolve to shift to a new career or move house?
The Invictus Games are on this week. A whole parade of people who presumably resolved, or are in the process of coming to resolve, to set a new course for their lives after losing something of themselves while serving in the armed forces. These people are generally held up as heroic figures, overcoming incredible odds, fighting back from despair or life altering episodes.
Is resolve only something that certain people do? Are the rest of us in such awe of people with resolve to compete because we aren't able to do it ourselves?
In this same week, the day before the opening ceremony of the Invictius Games, I was chased by a pack of three dogs, and bitten by one of them, while riding my bicycle home from work. I was treated by an ambulance, spent 4 hours in hospital, freaked out my family and couldn’t get to sleep until 3am because of the spikes of adrenaline that kept flowing through me. Afterwards I realized I was in a state of mild shock for about 24 hours after the dogbite, partly because I’ve ridden my bike thousands of kilometres across a number of countries and had this, my most serious injury, happen only 20km from home.
I’ve been wondering since that event a couple of days ago whether I’ll ride my bike to work again in the near future, when the injury on my leg will allow it. Or whether I should not, given my responsibility as a father and husband.
I probably will ride again, but I’m not sure yet. There’s nothing heroic about that and it’s certainly not resolve.
When an incident like this happens, most people initially react in an instinctive way and then, when emotions allow, make a rationale decision to choose a course of action based on the sum of all their experience but with a bright spotlight focused on the most recent. That’s not resolve, that’s just life.
Is resolve then just something we see in other people who have done something that from our perspective is brave or decisive but in reality is just their chosen or instinctive response to an event or decision point? Are we just envious of their ability to stick determinedly to a path that to us seems to be the hard road?
I can see that if I do ride again along the same road where the dogs attacked me others could interpret it as brave. I probably would, if it had happened to somebody else. I certainly won’t feel brave though, or be carrying a sense of resolve. It would actually just be me choosing to continue doing something I consider to partly define me with a new understanding of the risks involved. That’s just a decision, not strong and confident like ‘resolve’.
Perhaps resolve then is related to the scale of the decision.
For really big stuff, like buying a new house, changing jobs or changing relationships there may not actually be a single point of crystalising resolve. Rather, is it the final culmination of conscious and unconscious productive procrastination?
Instead of having a point of resolve there could just be a time when all your previous thoughts on a particular matter join in a way that makes sense to you and finally enables you to take clear action. For injured ex-service personnel I imagine it could take years for their thoughts on their possible futures to settle.
So at what point, or as what type of person, do you reach a point of resolution? The brave heroes may do it quickly and decisively or with clear and determined minds after deep deliberation. I envy them. I don’t think I am going to resolve to ride my bike to work again.
In the end, I’ll probably just buy an airhorn to scare off any future dogs and give it a go.
The Invictus Games are on this week. A whole parade of people who presumably resolved, or are in the process of coming to resolve, to set a new course for their lives after losing something of themselves while serving in the armed forces. These people are generally held up as heroic figures, overcoming incredible odds, fighting back from despair or life altering episodes.
Is resolve only something that certain people do? Are the rest of us in such awe of people with resolve to compete because we aren't able to do it ourselves?
In this same week, the day before the opening ceremony of the Invictius Games, I was chased by a pack of three dogs, and bitten by one of them, while riding my bicycle home from work. I was treated by an ambulance, spent 4 hours in hospital, freaked out my family and couldn’t get to sleep until 3am because of the spikes of adrenaline that kept flowing through me. Afterwards I realized I was in a state of mild shock for about 24 hours after the dogbite, partly because I’ve ridden my bike thousands of kilometres across a number of countries and had this, my most serious injury, happen only 20km from home.
I’ve been wondering since that event a couple of days ago whether I’ll ride my bike to work again in the near future, when the injury on my leg will allow it. Or whether I should not, given my responsibility as a father and husband.
I probably will ride again, but I’m not sure yet. There’s nothing heroic about that and it’s certainly not resolve.
When an incident like this happens, most people initially react in an instinctive way and then, when emotions allow, make a rationale decision to choose a course of action based on the sum of all their experience but with a bright spotlight focused on the most recent. That’s not resolve, that’s just life.
Is resolve then just something we see in other people who have done something that from our perspective is brave or decisive but in reality is just their chosen or instinctive response to an event or decision point? Are we just envious of their ability to stick determinedly to a path that to us seems to be the hard road?
I can see that if I do ride again along the same road where the dogs attacked me others could interpret it as brave. I probably would, if it had happened to somebody else. I certainly won’t feel brave though, or be carrying a sense of resolve. It would actually just be me choosing to continue doing something I consider to partly define me with a new understanding of the risks involved. That’s just a decision, not strong and confident like ‘resolve’.
Perhaps resolve then is related to the scale of the decision.
For really big stuff, like buying a new house, changing jobs or changing relationships there may not actually be a single point of crystalising resolve. Rather, is it the final culmination of conscious and unconscious productive procrastination?
Instead of having a point of resolve there could just be a time when all your previous thoughts on a particular matter join in a way that makes sense to you and finally enables you to take clear action. For injured ex-service personnel I imagine it could take years for their thoughts on their possible futures to settle.
So at what point, or as what type of person, do you reach a point of resolution? The brave heroes may do it quickly and decisively or with clear and determined minds after deep deliberation. I envy them. I don’t think I am going to resolve to ride my bike to work again.
In the end, I’ll probably just buy an airhorn to scare off any future dogs and give it a go.
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