RESILIENCE

Sometimes the pendulum of my life swings wide—from frantic fullness that has me coming and going crazily to the other end of the spectrum where I am somewhat at loose ends because I have considerable free time on my hands.
Recently, after returning from a trip, I got blindsided by a bad case of jet lag and then became sick. I really just needed to rest and do nothing.
For a ‘do-er’ this is not an easy or even a particularly enjoyable situation.
Nevertheless, I found myself clearing the deck so I could heal and rest and also coming up against the part of me that is uncomfortable with doing nothing.
The holidays were over; I had completed some important work assignments. The socializing frenzy had quieted down, no important meetings or speaking engagements were on my calendar. I had just experienced two weeks of extraordinary travel adventures.
Good! I can rest and recuperate! After a couple weeks of recovery I still had a lot of space in my schedule.
It started to bug me.
I began to think about what it is that enables us to bounce back after adversity and how I could access that part of me at this time.
Resilience is the word that kept floating up in my mind.
The ability to bounce back after setbacks or disappointments failures, losses. It means not giving up and continuing to face the future with optimism and courage, even in small situations.
Besides that fact that I was extremely uncomfortable with so little going on, it was also a good time to evaluate how much I fill my life just for the sake of filling it.
What do I really want to do with my life?
It felt like an empty room that I had cleared everything out of and now got to decide what I loved and wanted to put back into it.
What is important to me?
How can I design my life to contain different elements that are enriching and fulfilling without just giving my time away to lots of little nibblers?
I started by examining my life in some areas that I know are important to me: health, creativity, learning, friends, and contribution.
Instead of spiraling down into the winter blahs, I knew I needed to take action in small ways so I could get back on my feet and experience enjoyment of these cold dark months.
One of the characteristics of a resilient person is their ability to know people on whom they can depend and who know and love them.
Also, they know when they need help and to get it. I contacted a few health professionals on my ‘team’ and got some treatment plans in place. It felt good to be nurtured by the caring people in this part of my life.
I signed up for a drawing class that I enjoyed last winter when it was too cold to work in my own studio.
I called a few good friends, told them I was needing some good friend-time and planned some simple get together.
I signed up for a course that would both support my own curiosity as well as develop me in my professional field of life coach.
And I made some calls about a volunteer opportunity that has been bubbling away on the back burner of my life for some time now.
After all this time away, the sick time and the crisis of feeling disconnected and not well, I begin to [put a few nice pieces of life furniture back in my ‘living room’ and see that by taking a few small initiates I could get back on my feet but not with clutter and frantic fullness, but by adding a few quality experiences and activities that will support and nurture me for the next month or tow.
Then, I can reevaluate and see if it all fits.

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