Fire Chaos And Leadership Tests You
Happy Sunday Friends!
Here’s one quote I’m musing on this week, two core ideas, three favorite things, and one question to carry with you into the week ahead.
One Quote I’m Musing
“Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.”
| Seneca
🌍 A Tale of Two Worlds
We’re living through a split screen. Turn on the news, and you’ll see fire—literal and figurative—raging across the globe. The Israel-Iran conflict escalates. Streets in America are filled with both protests and celebrations. One side mourning. Another side cheering.
It’s hard not to think of A Tale of Two Cities—“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
It’s chaotic. Fractured. A kind of fire we can’t control—but feel nonetheless.
So how do we grow through that kind of fire?
Sometimes, we turn to nature to understand ourselves. And sometimes, the answer has been growing for centuries, rooted in fire.
🌳 The Test of Fire
Chaos isn’t the exception—it’s the environment.
The question isn’t how to avoid the fire. It’s whether you’ll be reshaped by it—or consumed.
I grew up in California. Weekends meant time with my grandfather, camping and hiking Yosemite, bouldering at Lake Buchanan, running across sun-heated rock with more confidence than balance.
I remember the standing beneath Giant Sequoias. They threw off my sense of scale—for trees, for time, maybe even for resilience. Their size is biblical. But what has stayed with me isn’t their immensity.
These trees—some of the largest and oldest living things on the planet—don’t reproduce without destruction - fire specifically.
Their cones are serotinous, sealed shut with resin. It takes heat above 400°F to open them. Not sunlight. Not age. Wildfire.
Literal, consuming fire.
That sticks with me because sometimes, we’re like that too.
🔥 The Fires We Don’t Choose
We all walk through heat we didn’t ask for.
Change we didn’t choose. Loss we warned others about. Challenges no one saw coming.
It might not be your fault. But it is your responsibility.
So now the question isn’t why did this happen? It’s:
What now? Who will I become through this? Will I open up, or will I shut down?
Adversity doesn’t guarantee growth. But it can unlock something inside us:
Creativity
Courage
Conviction
Capacity
And fire doesn’t just test individuals—it reshapes ecosystems, hierarchies. It reveals who adapts and who resists. Who emerges as more—and who’s burned out by the process.
🔥 Being The Fire
Fire consumes and transforms.
Left unchecked, it destroys. But cultivated, it:
Provides warmth
Cooks food
Hardens tools
Fuels progress
It is both dangerous and sacred.
And we are meant to be that way too.
Capable of transformation. Able to metabolize those things thrown at us and turn it into something useful. Something bright.
Because life isn’t a stable thing occasionally interrupted by change.
Life is change. Constant, chaotic, and beautiful.
Our job is to navigate it. To rise to the challenge. To become more than we were.
Navigating chaos without turning to ash takes more than resilience. It takes clarity. Creativity. Courage to think dangerously.
It demands we think dangerously.
Not recklessly. But with bold clarity.
Dangerous thinking asks: What if this fire is for me? What if it unlocks a version of me I haven’t met yet?
💡Two Ideas From Me
🌱 Sometimes the fire isn’t the end—it’s the release.
What looks like destruction may be the moment you finally unlock.
🔥 Resilience isn’t resistance. It’s transformation.
Be like fire: dangerous when reckless, powerful when shaped.
🛠️ Fire Response Toolkit
Here’s how to move through your fire, not just survive it:
🔥 Name the fire. What challenge are you facing?
🌱 Spot the seed. What possibility could come from this?
⚒️ Choose one action. What will you do next—even in the smoke?
“I’m facing [X]. One possibility is [Y]. I want to become [Z].”
Three Favorite Things This Week
🎨 Art/Experience: Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 by the indie team at Sandfall Interactive brought to us A haunting, immersive digital journey that explores shadow, light, and the beauty of contrast. It’s JRPG for you Final Fantasy fans but with some keystroke/button actions to make the gameplay more interesting. They nailed it. | More
🎧 Podcast Episode: Brene Brown’s episode on “FFT (Effing First Times)” – about navigating the discomfort of uncertainty. | Listen here
📖 Quote – “No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.” | Seneca
✍️ One Question to Take Into Your Week
What fire are you facing right now—and what seed might it be unlocking in you?
Grab your journal. Write one challenge you’re navigating.
Then write one possibility—just one—that could come from it.
Finally: write one word you want to become through this fire.
Leader. Forgiver. Builder. Creator.
Keep it visible—put it on a sticky note, your lock screen, your mirror.
Let it shape you.
Know someone walking through fire right now?
Forward this. Their transformation might begin with your invitation.
Until Sunday My Friends.
Stay adaptable. Stay present.
Think Dangerously.
–e
End of transmission.