So, girlfriend . . . load shedding. It puts me in mind of something that Holocaust survivor, Viktor E Frankl said. In his autobiographical book, ‘Man’s search for meaning’, based on his experiences in Nazi concentration camps, he writes: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

Viktor writes that in some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning. It’s pretty much what dream expert, Kelly Sullivan Walden, discusses in her book, ‘A crisis is a terrible thing to waste’.

In her book, Kelly divulges her own disasters and devastating losses alongside stories from friends and clients and shares her four-step OGLE method to “transform the tragic into magic” and help turn suffering into optimism.

OGLE basically boils down to asking yourself the following four questions:

O: What is the Offending behaviour and/or situation?
G: What is Good about that offending behaviour and/or situation?
L: How am I peering into the Looking Glass (mirror)?
E: How will I allow this situation to Elevate me?

I’m just dying to see your OGLE answers to load shedding, girlfriend. Maybe it’s a trial to teach us how to stay positive. Melanie Robbins says that you’ll never be successful and happy if you’re addicted to seeing what’s wrong. Mel is a lawyer, television host, author and motivational speaker, known for her TEDx talk, ‘How to stop screwing yourself over’.

“You can choose what you think about. You can,” she says. “Choosing to stop complaining and start looking for ways to change is the fastest way to change your life . . . I choose to believe that I can create a positive outcome in any situation if I put in the effort. And so can you.”

I guess every time you get upset by something, the first thing you should do is to ask yourself where the silver lining is. Valorie Burton writes that resilient people don’t just go through challenges; they grow through them. The key is to look for the opportunity for growth. You should choose your mindset intentionally. Ask yourself, ‘How do I want to show up right now?’

“When you look back at this time in your career and life, what is the story you want to be able to tell about how you handled the challenges of this season? Make a decision about how you want to show up in your challenge . . . Maybe it is an opportunity to be more courageous or stretch beyond your typical comfort zone . . . Show up in a way that reflects the person you want to become,” she says.

According to Valorie, you have to find the message in the mess. “Resilient people don’t get stuck ruminating on the problem. They know how to analyze a problem and find workable solutions, but they go a step beyond that. They look for the message the problem is sending. Deep down they know problems are messengers. To prevent problems from recurring they look for the message in it and use the message to inform their approach going forward.”

So, is finding a message in the mess the thing that causes one person to flourish in spite of challenges, while another gets trapped, incapable of navigating the unrelenting change and uncertainty that surrounds us? Viktor Frankl says that in times of crisis, people reach for meaning. Meaning is strength. Our survival may depend on our seeking and finding it.

He quotes Friedrich Nietzsche, saying: “If you find a why, then you can bear any how.” If you find a purpose, then you can overcome any challenge that life throws at you. He writes, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.”

To paraphrase Viktor: Everything can be taken from you, girlfriend, except one thing: The last of the human freedoms – to choose your own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose your own way.