- Michael Dahdal
Calm And Steadfast

It’s in times of crisis when we’re called to remain calm and steadfast
It’s easy to descend into a panic, but panic doesn’t really serve a purpose beyond self-preservation.
And in many ways, it presents a greater danger.
It’s our most primitive of instincts, that heard mentality, when we are willing to sell out our brothers and sisters in order to save ourselves
It doesn’t have to be this way, because panic is simply about being void of any rationality.
It’s a wave of emotion that overwhelms you
Possess you to act and be something you are not,
In essence, for that moment, you cease being you, cease being human.
You lose yourself in these moments; acting only on an impulse you’ve lost control of.
So the response then, is exactly that, to respond and not react
To slow down, generate some space;
Detach a little so you’re able to consider things more objectively
To approach adversity from that human place,
That place that brings us closer together, not tears us apart
That place of faith, not doubt
That place of reason, not fear
of hope, not despair
Because this is what the human spirit is
And it’s unique to our species.
And it’s in these moments of adversity we get to find out what we’re really made of
So remain calm but remain steadfast
Attend to the matters at hand, but don’t allow yourself to descend into madness
It’s ultimately your strength of will and your ability to discern reality, that will make the difference,
That will allow you to be a service to yourself and to others
So don’t allow yourself succumb to fear, because as Shakespeare insists “it’s the coward that dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once…”