Viktor Frankl's wife, father, mother, and brother died in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Enduring extreme hunger, cold, and brutality, first in Auschwitz and then Dachau, Frankl lost every physical belonging on his first day in the camps, and was forced to surrender a scientific manuscript he considered his life's work.
When Frankl arrived at the concentration camp, he gave himself these 3 goals:
(1) to survive;
(2) to use his medical skills and help where he could, and;
(3) to try and learn something. (Imagine that... to try and learn something through all this!)
In his book (Man's Search for Meaning - 1959), Frankl focused his writings on those who, like himself, were put to work under the most horrible conditions and survived. Frankl found common traits essential to their survival. All of those who made it through had something significant they wanted yet to do. They had a goals to be achieved and a vision of what it would look and feel like when they achieved those, and that gave meaning to their life, even in the worst conditions.
Frankl said, "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
If you are to "survive" in today's fast paced and ever-changing times, you must have goals, a vision of the future, and a positive attitude. Although we are in a much different time and place than Mr. Frankl was, the idea rings true - those three things can get you through even the most difficult of times.
SHINE ON!
