Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Victorious Living

Home
Family, Parenting and Religion
Lessening The Drop

Lessening The Drop

Last updated on: June 16, 2020 at 5:00 am by Victorious Living

Lessening The Drop 2020-06-11T18:04:38-04:00 Victorious Living

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Project Mood Curve is a tool we use to help people and organizations transform the way they view challenge, struggle, and failure.

Essentially, the mood curve is a mental model to help us see the journey of expectations to disappointment into perseverance, growth, and productivity. Everything we do follows the shape of the Mood Curve. All relationships, projects, and every other kind of human endeavor. The darn thing is inevitable.

The only thing that varies is the depth to which we fall. Our plunge from expectation to reality is something we call the pit of despair. The honeymoon phase is over. The inevitable difficulties kick in. It is at this crucial time that people (individually and communally) have to decide if their vision is worth persevering toward.

And although we cannot avoid the pit of despair, the one variant in the inevitability of The Project Mood Curve is how deep the pit will be. How far, so to speak, we will fall. And there are a few things we can do at the beginning to help lessen our drop, which in turn sets us up to persevere and excel more effectively.

See It Comin’

We all love the beginning stages of our projects. We love the hope and excitement, the possibilities and the expectations. We love finding someone we are attracted to and feeling the butterflies in our stomach during the first few months of dating.

But it comes to an end. It has to. All of these things are superficial, hypothetical. We cannot live in our imagined worlds. We need to face the realities of relationship. We need to acknowledge the obstacles in achieving our desired purposes. If we don’t, we settle for a superficial manifestation of what we are really after. We close ourselves off from the truth.

The heights of intimacy require the depths of vulnerability.

The best thing we can do to lesson our dip into the pit of despair is to know it is coming and prepare for it. I am not suggesting we go looking for it. But when it arises, if we have been expecting it, we are better equipped to see our way through it.

The Ole’ Lighthouse

For some reason I am really feeling the apostrophes in these subtitles. What I mean by this one is simply this: when you find yourself in the pit of despair, there are only two options – quit or persevere. Which you will choose depends on how committed you are to the vision you are pursuing.

If you want a strong and healthy marriage, you will work through the challenges. If you want to accomplish what needs to be done, you will face the challenges with courage.

Vision serves as a lighthouse in the pit of despair. It is the only way you see yourself out. Knowing it upfront, with as much clarity as possible, is perhaps the strongest tool you can take into The Mood Curve.

Ol’ Fashion Honesty

One thing we forget when we are in the pit of despair, at least in the context we’ve been talking about. You are not alone. You’re on a team.

We too often try to hide from those around us either because we want to protect them or we want to protect a façade we are trying to put forth. Neither are helpful in the pit of despair.

Your team needs your honesty. They need to know how you feel and what you think. Even if it is imperfect, they need you to communicate. Imperfect and honest communication are like magic in difficult times. As long as they are partnered with humility, they can bind teams/groups/couples together and can propel you out of that pit almost as fast as you found yourself in it.

Previous Post

June 11, 2020

All The Things We Do Not Say

Next Post

June 18, 2020 The Lost Art of Celebrating Dads

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Choices Conflict Resolution Culture Change Emotions Failure Faith Fear Freedom V Growth Healthy Communication Hope Identity Influence Leadership Learn Mistakes Mood Curve Ownership Perspective Power Relationships Self-Awareness Self-Governance Systems Thinking Three Things You Control Transformational Leadership Trust Truth Uncategorized Values Vision

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What book of the Bible comes after Genesis?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Exodus Numbers Deuteronomy Leviticus

Books by This Author Books by Victorious Living

See All Titles »