We Got This, Right?

I attended a funeral visitation tonight for a friend who lost her dad just 4 days after my mom died. We both declared that 2025 was definitely going to be OUR year! Unless the powers that be could grant us a great second half of 2024. We'll take it!

For now: We got this!

We think. And we hope. 

By sheer coincidence, we had a motivational speaker at work today who basically gave us a pep talk on resiliency and agility that we can apply at work and our personal lives.

He was quite the entertaining and engaging speaker. So glad my company invests in resources like this to help us with our work-life balance. If you ever get the chance to hear Paul Wesselmann, do it. You won't regret it!

He considers himself The Ripples Guy – sharing inspirational messages that turn ripples of possibility into waves of opportunity.

I needed to hear this today. I won't regurgitate his whole presentation, but I will share what I learned about the graphic above. The premise is that to get through any major change or challenge, we go through 3 stages: Survive, revive, and thrive. But they don't necessarily occur in that order – and we may be going through all 3 at once. Depends.

CURIOUS MINDS

Part of our resilience is pausing to see how our brain is adjusting to things. Ask yourself: "What am I thinking?" and "What am I feeling?"

If you put a label to a positive feeling, it can last longer. If you apply a label to a negative feeling, it means you're actually acknowledging it and it could shrink. But in the meantime, we must acknowledge that even though we can't control our immediate reaction to something, we can control our response. That requires a second to step back and ask those questions above and figure out what response would be helpful to the situation.

OPEN HEARTS

The lesson here is that we send generosity, kindness, and compassions to ourselves. Then extend that to others: First, your friends or family who need it, then people you know but might not be as close to, and then finally, everyone. 

Not gonna lie, it's not an easy step.

CALM SPIRITS

When he talked about calming yourself, he suggested taking deep breaths – thinking HERE when you inhale and thinking NOW when you exhale. This calms you and helps you stay centered in the here and now. 

Pretty much anyone who deals with the whirlwind of daily stress – whether in the workplace or home – can identify with the need to center. Find it and figure out how to return to it and stay there in order to thrive.

NUTURE HEALTH

This can involve physical, mental, and spiritual health. The survival part is basically triage. We assess the situation. We all know life is tumultuous. What's working? What isn't working?

The revival step prompts us to figure out what we need to do. What needs to change? What doesn't?

The thrive part means we finally remember that being HEALTHY is not just about "not being sick." It's saying no. It's positive choices. It's letting go. 

It's not easy if you're wired like me!

Anyway, just wanted to share because I needed this message today. Needed to know that even when life deals you a crappy hand, there's still a way you can find to make it work without folding. 

We need to accept that every version of ourselves deserves to be loved. Deserves grace. We got this!