Life is tough. But so are you.
Life is tough. But so are you.
I read this statement sometime over the weekend and it resonated with me. The last few months have seemed like a real test of our strength. There have been so many changes coming from all directions it is nearly impossible to keep up with. Talk about resilience.
I do not remember a time in my life where there was so much uncertainty. There are days when I feel like I am just walking around aimlessly and unable to focus on anything productive. I have a to-do list that is pages long, but it just seems so difficult to get things done. Then other days, I feel like I am on top of the world! I am beyond productive and able to tackle things I have been putting off.
Frequently I have to remind myself that it’s okay! It’s okay to not be as productive as I think I should be. It’s okay to feel lost, overwhelmed, or confused. It’s okay to want to take on the world one minute and then want to hide from it the next. This is a strange time. Getting out of bed each morning and putting on pants can be an accomplishment in itself because it may be so much easier to hide under the covers and not deal with what’s going on.
But we can’t do that. There are people and animals depending on us. We need to push past it and figure out how to continue to function, whatever that looks like. I have said it before in previous posts, but we are in survival mode. We need to choose what is important to us. What are the priorities? What are the non-negotiables? How do we start to feel human again?
Viktor Frankl was a psychologist who endured one of the most horrific events of human history, the Holocaust. Frankl was a Nazi concentration camp prisoner and survivor. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl discusses the degree of human suffering in the camps. His experiences and observations of the prisoners allowed him to understand the desire to understand the meaning of their lives. Frankl noted that those prisoners who found meaning to live, despite being stripped of nearly all freedoms, were the ones who survived.
Despite losing almost everything, Frankl says he and his fellow prisoners were left with the last human freedom: “the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.” I think this is a truly powerful statement that can be applicable in so many circumstances, especially today. The camps of Auschwitz are an extreme example of human suffering that I hope the human race is never exposed to again. Frankl’s body of work focused on suffering, which he describes as any emotional trauma, no matter how big or small. How we chose to handle that trauma defines how we come out on the other side.
Right now, we need to stay strong, both physically and mentally. We need to stand with each other, not against. Because no matter what comes next, we need each other. We need to be a united front. There is strength in numbers. We need to put ourselves and our families in the best position to come out of this stronger and more resilient than ever before. We need each other, but most of all we need ourselves. Don’t give up on you. Stand up for what you need and what you believe in. Stay strong, keep love in your heart, and know that you are enough. You can handle whatever life throws at you. There is no other choice.
Peace, love & kale,
Lindsay
Reference: Seaward, B.L. (2018). Managing Stress (9th ed.). Boulder, CO: Jones & Bartlett Learning.