When it comes to matter, as a state of being, we are most familiar with the examples afforded us in high school of ice, water, and vapor: solid, liquid, gas. Each of these states has certain properties which distinguish it from one another. Then, the teachers shake it up and blow your mind with an elusive 4th state of being – plasma. Slow down, crazy. Whoa.
I think people have states of being as well. I have my solid days when I’m the bat and the world is my baseball. I have days when I must be fluid to navigate neuroses and situations, adapt to change, and make things run smoothly. I also have days when I’m spread too thin; I’m everywhere and nowhere at once.
I’m thinking about events in my life for the last couple of weeks, primarily work-focused because, hey, busy season. Some beautiful words come to mind as I reflect on my lessons and experiences: Viscosity, Malleability, Ductility. These are all words I learned in physics class in high school, and they are capabilities of substances to interact with their immediate environment, and what that confrontation is like. They are put through trials and we see what becomes of it – cause and effect. This creates a measure of being. Add to that variations in properties based on changes in temperature, and what we get are very different scenarios of how we are when we’re cool and calm vs. when we’re immersed in hot water.
Viscosity; Vissss-cahssss-it-ee. I love the way it sounds. This is a measure of resistance to stress, and gradual deformation, and is most commonly expressed for a fluid state of being. Or you can think of it like erosion of a solid, if that’s easier to wrap your head around. When fluid interacts with a solid, say a tube or a wine glass, some interesting dynamics occur. When there is a pressure difference between you and those you encounter, there will be tension; it’s the basic concept of friction. If you squeeze wine into a tiny tube, it will slow the flow of the wine down (even if not observable to the human eye). If you pour wine into the nice tumblers, the liquid takes the shape of the solid. With slow motion image capture, things can appear to move slowly at the site of interaction between the opposing forces. At work, that meant client meetings appear docile and the team appears calm. They make it look easy. Under the surface, everyone is scurrying to barely make it by; particles are moving more quickly away from the point of interaction, because they’re not encountering conflict or opposition. It makes sense that if a liquid encounters an opposing force, or an obstacle, it will slow down.
Some fluids are more viscous than others. If Maple Syrup and Moët Chandon had a track and field meet, at the starting line of a naked race, the champagne would obviously move much more freely and faster than the maple syrup, making a bigger mess. If those two are racing peanut butter, we all know who is going home with 3rd place. But if you’re peanut butter, when you get bombarded by stress, then you don’t break down easily. Pros and cons, sweetie darling.
I think the best example of viscosity is how glaciers move. The part of the glacier closest to the ground moves slowest, as it is slowed down by friction. The glacier moves fast at the top and center, where it is not touching the ground. Most people think glaciers are solid ice, but in fact, they are not solid. There area very slow moving liquid with a high viscosity (thicker than peanut butter). Erosion patterns of glaciers are also different because of their interaction with the ground over which they advance and recede. They scoop out rounded valleys, as compared to wind and water erosion which move sediment in different ways.
Malleability refers to how we react under the pressure to deform us, or to change us. Often, this is used to speak of metal and speaks to the ability to bend or be hammered without breaking. Aluminum is a great example of a metal than can be pounded nearly flat and won’t break easily. I admire people like that. In the face of opposition, those people can take a beating and not falter.
Ductility is a property of metals, too; it measures how brittle a material is. This is the ability to be formed into a wire. Like malleability, it’s about being flexible and stretching thin, without breaking. One simply cannot work with those metals (and people) which (who) shatter or break under stress. Copper is a great example of a metal which is both malleable and ductile. It makes great pipes and wires. In metals, electrons can be shared between many atoms, which allow the atoms to slide past each other, without breaking. The bonds within a team are what hold it together when the pressure mounts and the temperature rises.
While this has certainly not been my most challenging or most sleepless busy season in my 11 years of in asset management assurance, it’s certainly been interesting. This year, I learned more about the kind of person I am and want to be when it gets down to brass tacks.
“This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure”
– Queen
When I encounter friction, I slow down a bit, but I find ways to move on and persist. I can take a beating and throw myself in front of an enemy to save my team, because pain is relative. A thousand arrows may barely pierce my skin, but just one to the people I supervise could have a huge impact on their happiness, endurance, and very wellbeing. I don’t always take the path of least resistance, but I try to go with the flow. There is an ongoing struggle between good and evil, and it’s all relative, but I am gonna fight for the good side (at least in my eyes). I have my reasons for fighting the good fight – it’s not the client, it’s not the thrill of battle.
It’s for the people above who give me a safe space to try incredible things, even if I fail. They give me room to fail; in fact, it’s ok if I fail. Just get back up and keep going. Resiliency is the key to success. Just get back up.
I certainly gave at least 100% when it came to my boss and my team. I probably only gave 80% when it came to myself and what I’m truly capable of, if I include a discount for the not-caring-anymore factor. I didn’t have expectations this time around, except to come out alive on the other side and not feel like I compromised on my principles, beliefs, and the core of my being. In that regard, I was not a disappointment. I only missed the gym the one week I was sicker than a dog.
I could have given more, and with hindsight, there are some things I should have known or done better. They were immaterial and small, and perhaps with a more focused attention to detail and desire to do well, I could have totally nailed it. But I still nailed it pretty good this time around. It’s not over yet, as I still have three more projects to get out the door before my excellent Scandinavian European Adventure. But for now, I did well enough for me, and that’s all that counts. I was kind, patient, responsible, caring, and thoughtful. I didn’t extinguish anyone else’s light in order to make mine shine brighter. I think that’s all anyone can hope to be. And I didn’t kill anyone.
‘The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. As we always must. We came here, and we tried. All of us, in our different ways… We get up every morning, we do our best. Nothing else matters.’ – Deborah Moggach
So today I celebrate the anticlimactic success of being done with the most difficult project this year. Last night, after leaving the client’s offices on a Sunday evening, I stopped on the way home and got a pizza. Treat yo self.
idigres 