A friend was struggling with a reframe for the phrase “the calm before the storm” the other day.
Why the struggle?
Well, he’s waiting to hear back on a couple of big proposals he’s got out there with clients. But since they’re clients he’s excited to work with, and since it’s work he’s excited about doing, should he get the chance, “the storm” doesn’t feel right.
It implies destruction, negativity, things happening to you not because of you.
Channeling my friend Rod Aparicio – strategist, emailer, and diver – I came up with “The long, deep breath before the dive.”
What do you think?
Does that do it for you too?
Do you have any other suggestions?
The language we use shapes us, so as trivial as this seems, I actually think it’s quite important. (i.e., I’d like to know your thoughts and/or suggestions.)
Breathing, diving, James
P.S. In this scenario, it’s not a dive with an air tank. I’m willing to bet that you actually don’t take a long, deep breath when you’re diving with a tank.
P.P.S. I’m playing around with the notion of a thing being important because it’s useful rather than because it’s true. A (big) topic for another day. Someone’s got a book coming out on this; can’t remember who.
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The calm after (last night’s) storm |
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