Resiliency

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

~ Joshua J. Marine

I am not familiar with Mr. Marine, and am not even sure who he is (or was), but I’d like to know. This quote has significant meaning that can impact how people look at facing, or even overcoming challenges in their lives.

We are all faced with challenges at some point.  In today’s society, social problems are in abundance: teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, violence, emotional and physical abuse, poverty and war.  The current state of the economy is leading to home foreclosures, bankruptcy, unemployment and homelessness.  Perhaps you know someone with cancer, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, or other serious medical conditions.  And there are grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

I’m sure you can relate to any number of the conditions I mentioned – either personally or someone you know.  Life’s challenges can be very painful – physically, mentally and emotionally, but it’s how we react to those challenges that brings meaning to life.

When we face challenges in our life, we can do one of two things…we can face them and move on, or we can continue to feel victimized by our circumstances.  If we chose the latter, we continue to get more of the same.  There’s no way out.  However, when we bounce back, we are resilient.  We accept our unfortunate circumstances and take one giant step (or even baby steps) forward to overcome those challenges and make our lives better.

I just taught a workshop on resiliency last week, and coincidentally, I saw Michael J. Fox on The David Letterman Show a few nights ago (it was a repeat from April 2nd, but I missed it the first time around).  He is the epitome of resilient, so I had to reflect on that.

Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease during the filming of “Doc Hollywood” back in 1991, and went public with it in 1998.  Since then, he had dedicated his life, not only his family (wife Tracy and 4 children), but to the Michael J. Fox Foundation on Parkinson’s research.

Fox, like others with debilitating illnesses (such as Teri Garr with Multiple Sclerosis and Farrah Fawcett who recently passed away from Cancer), is resilient.  He hasn’t given up, blamed someone else for his misfortunes, nor has he made bad choices in his life because he’s angry. He has taken his challenges in life and made meaning from them.

Fox’s most recent book, Always Looking Up – The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, is just that.  It expresses his journey through life with Parkinson’s, and the strong support he gains from his family, his faith and his work.  He doesn’t claim to be a victim, but an optimist, an incurable one. When you’re an optimist (resilient) there’s only one way to look and that’s up.

How do you become resilient?  You have to make the conscious decision to move forward – to accept the hand that was dealt and look at what is right, not at what is wrong.  You can’t change what has already happened, so there is no looking back.  You can only look ahead (or up) and what you can do to improve your situation.  Like Michael J. Fox, maintaining his incredible sense of humor has also served him well, I’m sure.

To Michael, Teri, Farrah, each of our military heroes (past and present), and anyone else who has taken their own situation and dedicated their life to helping make a better life for others: thank you for your true inspiration and your resiliency!  Your positive attitudes, your strengths, your faith and your selfless acts of kindness are true gifts to us all.  We can all learn a great deal from your challenges and the meaning you have gained from them!