“Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
- James Baldwin

One evening this week, my phone rang. My neighbor’s daughter asked me to come quickly as her mother, who is 104, had fallen.

We helped her back to her room. She was shaken, but unhurt. Afterward, her daughter showed us the things that fill their walls: portraits of Churchill, paintings of the monarchy, a photograph of their family shop in Leeds from the 1930s, horse-drawn carts outside, and no telephone poles in sight. A century of life, frozen in frames and keepsakes.

This woman was born before World War II. Her daughter was literally delivered in an air-raid bunker during a raid. They’ve lived through alarms that truly mattered: sirens in the night, bombs overhead, years of rationing, not to mention those in the ~80 years since. And yet after her fall, this 104-year-old lady smiled and apologized for causing trouble. The crises of the past are likely the furthest thing from her mind. She just smiled and wanted to go to bed.

For whatever reason, it was a healthy dose of perspective.

The current moment presents us with no shortage of crises every day. This week, we were told that unemployment numbers are at record highs. At the same time, the world watched as Xi Jinping stood alongside Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un at a military parade in Beijing. And hovering over all of it is the debate about how artificial intelligence will reorder economies, politics, and human work in the decades ahead. I could go on, but there’s enough in the news.

Some of these alarms may prove pivotal. Others will fade into footnotes. Meanwhile, the alarms that actually often derail most of us in our daily lives are smaller: an argument with a loved one, a disappointing professional outcome, too many back-to-back meetings, or a missed workout. They feel existential in the moment. They rarely are.

It strikes me that the art of leadership is not answering every alarm. It is knowing which ones deserve your attention, and which are best allowed to ring and fade while you conserve energy for what will truly last, or where you can have the most significant impact.

The leaders I typically respect the most are the ones who know how to choose their battles and win the ones they decide to take on. It’s rarely someone who is reacting to the latest trend, crisis, or opportunistic moment, but where do you find inspiration?

In reality, the world has always been loud. Maybe there’s a case it’s noisier than ever, but regardless, it’s nothing new.

So perhaps clarity is not best found in answering every summons, but in meeting the right ones with clarity, calm, and courage.

Until next Sunday, choose your alarms with intention.

Eric

P.S. A friend told me this week, in this time of high stress and high anxiety, perhaps celebrating small moments of joy truly are meaningful, quiet acts of rebellion. That made me smile.

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