Why Resilience?

Originally posted on May 25th, 2009

Bloom Unexpectedly
Creative Commons License photo credit: kkimpel

Have you noticed how people are much more interested in finding ways to cope than they used to be? There seems to be a public acknowledgement that times are tough. As a culture, we all are more aware of the troubles of our “neighbors.” Part of this is the 24-hour news cycle which must be fed constantly, so there are more stories about the effects of the economic crisis, swine flu, etc. Part of it is that we are more in contact with people all over the country thru email, Skype, Facebook, etc, than we ever were before. We “know” more people and their stories.

At Book Club last night I heard about a family in Michigan. One of our Book Club members mentioned that she was talking to a software support person, someone she works with regularly. He told her that his wife and her family members (father, brothers, sisters) had ALL been laid off from one of the Big Three automakers. With only him still working, their family’s unemployment rate was about 80%. Continue reading » Why Resilience?

Overwhelmed With Troubles?

OverwhelmedLast Year

[This is an article I wrote in early 2008.  On the “good news” side, one year later, my husband continues to be well; chemo, surgery and more chemo stemmed the tide and for the moment, tests come back with our dear friend “NED” – no evidence of disease.  The tub’s been repaired and the toilets replaced.  Life is good.]

Under siege in our battle against an aggressive cancer that has invaded my husband’s esophagus, and, aggravated by a pileup of life’s little irritations, I’m beginning to feel “whelmed” as in “overwhelmed” except that, with perhaps outrageously inappropriate optimism, I refuse to be “overed”! I depend on my resilience to bounce back from this onslaught of bad news.

Yeah, there’s all his BIG DEAL medical stuff. He’s had to deal with the biopsies, the cancer diagnosis, the tests, the chemo sessions and their repeated yucky aftermaths; and, lest we become complacent, I have a few medical issues of my own and we both have waaaay too many doc’ appointments.

Continue reading » Overwhelmed With Troubles?

Why Resilience?

Fall RiskHave you noticed how people are much more interested in finding ways to cope than they used to be? There seems to be a public acknowledgement that times are tough. As a culture, we all are more aware of the troubles of our “neighbors.” Part of this is the 24-hour news cycle which must be fed constantly, so there are more stories about the effects of the economic crisis, swine flu, etc. Part of it is that we are more in contact with people all over the country thru email, Skype, Facebook, etc, than we ever were before. We “know” more people and their stories.

At Book Club last night I heard about a family in Michigan. One of our Book Club members mentioned that she was talking to a software support person, someone she works with regularly. He told her that his wife and her family members (father, brothers, sisters) had ALL been laid off from one of the Big Three automakers. With only him still working, their family’s unemployment rate was about 80%. Continue reading » Why Resilience?

Cup o’ Inspiration

cup with steam swirl

Take a short break and consider the following:

“Thorns and stings and those such things just make stronger our angel wings.”

Emme Woodhull-Bache

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