During the last weeks, I’ve regularly been reminded how things that happen today will not be the same tomorrow. Happiness comes and goes. Emotions come and go. Thoughts come and go.

Change may be a constant. But the change that we are confronted with is always a new one.

The solution we look for is to embrace change, to embrace the struggle change brings.

But the recipe is found in the struggle itself and the way we struggle.

We create a story for ourselves that the struggle we experience is always the same. That there is a regularity to the situation we find ourselves in and that this is due to us not being able to master it or avoid it altogether.

Taking on the struggle becomes a quest to win against it, to find a solution, or to feel needed.

Embracing the struggle is different. It is stepping towards it and searching for what it says about the current situation and the people involved. It is the ability to leave the story aside for a moment. The willingness to be responsible for oneself and to acknowledge the responsibility others have. And the engagement to value the situation as well as those involved.

It also means that the struggle isn’t about finding a way to feel good now or soon thereafter.

This might be especially true for leaders. Change is constantly coming toward them. They deal with an environment where people look up to them making them responsible for making struggles go away. And to a certain extent, it indeed is their task. However, it doesn’t make them responsible for every struggle people in their environment experience.

Leaders learn and teach how to transform an inconvenience that is experienced today into a better tomorrow.

And yes, it can lead to feeling more content.