Regaining Resilience after Extreme Loss: A Top 10 List

Yesterday, I had a wonderful experience – sharing the My52WOW story with the Women’s Exchange in Winnetka, Illinois, during their Friday Salon. Among a wonderful group of women, I shared my experience, and heard from some amazing women, and they shared theirs, which blessed me and encouraged me.

The topic for the afternoon was: Regaining Resilience after Extreme Loss.

For me, the effort to become a more resilient individual is anchored in my continuing spiritual journey. But we talked about 10 things that you can do if you find yourself in a situation where life is challenging you beyond your current capacity to cope. Those 10 things are:

10. Be Kind to Yourself
9. Simplify
8. Create a Routine That Builds You Up
7. Identify Your Fight Song…and Sing it Often
6. Soak Up The Kindness of Strangers
5. Believe that…It Matters
4. Change what you don’t like…Celebrate The Rest
3. Surround Yourself With Beauty (people, places, and things that you love.)
2. Assemble your Emergency Response Team (ERT)
1. Lean Into the Journey.

In the upcoming weeks, on this blog, I will be sharing more about each of these steps – they are the extension of the lessons that I learned during the first 52 weeks of this journey…and the lessons that continue to encourage me continue on this journey with as much strength as I can and as much courage as I can muster.

Thanks to the Women’s Exchange in Winnetka. I consider it a blessing and a privilege to continue to share my story.

And a special thanks to my friend, Gretchen, an honored member of my emergency response team – who came to share in the discussion.

Love.