Thinking about RESILIENCE

Occasionally I come across a book unlike any I have been reading for a while. A friend who, like Terry, is a former social worker, loaned him a book entitled "It's Not the End of the World," (subtitled: "Developing Resilience in Times of Change"). They had both been offered a course to teach at the college on the topic of resiliency - and they had both turned it down. Did his colleague think this might make an interesting text for whoever taught the course?

I picked it up and started reading. It's an easy read. As I started chapter 2, I came across a quote by William Arthur Ward:

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

Which of these am I?!

Ten years into retirement, I feel the need to adjust some of my expectations.  Do I need to come to terms with the fact that there are dreams I may never see realized...?

That's been on my mind the past little while. Do I need to give up those hopes and dreams?

A little further into chapter 2, I read that, according to one former prisoner of war, the passive optimists did not survive their tough imprisonment conditions. Faced with disappointment after disappointment, they gave up and died of a broken heart. It was the realists who survived, as they tried to adapt to changing realities.

I think of the "Serenity Prayer:"

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

These words had meant a lot to my mother. She quoted the prayer whenever she faced a tough situation, and even embroidered the prayer on a wall hanging. (I wrote a blogpost about this a few years ago.)

Chapter 2 on "Optimistic Realism" concludes with the thought that "the belief that change is a challenge rather than a  threat is an invitation to... the creative mind-set central to resilience."

So that's it... It's all about attitude!