Though probably not his intention, His Holiness was also describing the reason adventurers seek adventure. It is not that we have a ‘death wish’. Quite the opposite. Adventurers have a ‘life wish’. We are unwilling to sleep-walk through life. We seek the most challenging way of climbing a mountain, sailing a sea, running a company, conducting a relationship. Why? Because we love the hard sledding, what it does to our hearts and minds.

  We live for the moment when we look back at what we have accomplished and say: “You know, it wasn’t easy, but it was sure worthwhile. Just look how far we’ve come”.

  While working recently with the leadership of Gap Inc., I had the good fortune of spending time with Tom Wyatt, the inspirational and universally well-liked president of Old Navy. An iconic brand with excellent quality and very reasonable prices, Old Navy is well-positioned in a tough economy.  So where’s the challenge? According to Tom, it is the age of his leadership.

“The average age of Old Navy’s leadership team is around twenty-seven or twenty eight years old,” says Tom. “They are a great and highly skilled group. They just have not been around long enough to have experienced any previous crises in the marketplace. They have not developed the skill-set for dealing with adversity.”

Tom’s right.

When things get tough it is the ‘mentally tough’ who survive. Outward Bound, the world- renowned outdoor school  was founded by Kurt Hahn upon his discovery that when German U-Boats sank British vessels during the early years of World war II it was often the younger, sailors who perished, while the older ones survived. He noted that youth and technical training were no match for experience.                                                                  

“It is the fortitude that comes from character forming experience that gives us strength.

When we have a connection to a deep sense of meaning we cannot only endure the greatest hardship but actually thrive in times of extreme duress,” wrote Hahn. Or as Nietzsche said: He who has a why to live for can bear any how. Seen thus, the toughest challenges in life are also the greatest gifts, offering us a chance to discover who we truly are and what we believe in.

In the ‘medicine wheel’ found throughout the Americas this is the great teaching of the West, the going within place. An inward journey offers an opportunity to hone our strength, temper our inner power in the crucible of adversity, emerging stronger, lighter, more resilient… better than ever.

This is such a time.

As I work with groups across the land I continue to remind them: These are the worst of times. These are the best of times. Life is circles and cycles. Nothing lasts forever. We - our economy, our organizations, our personal lives - will emerge from this current moment transformed, balanced and invigorated. More alive than ever.

  Very soon we  will look back at what we have accomplished and say: “You know, it wasn’t easy, but it was sure worthwhile. Just look how far we’ve come”.