by Steve Beseke, beseke1@earthlink.net
Most of us have gone through inevitable obstacles and sometimes unforeseen challenges in our lives – especially in the last 18 months or so.. This may be because of unimagined layoffs or possibly losing a loved one from Alzheimer’s. How do we get through such tragedies and get up again to walk the next miles of our lives?
It definitely can be hard, sometimes exhausting and a bit frustrating if we don’t stay resilient. Even if you apply the resilient strategies that I have very humbly highlighted worldwide on this site and through my many speeches, there are still days when things just don’t go your way. I have sometimes adapted, used my strengths and have been very persistent, etc., but still I feel I not in control.
But should any of us crawl into a hole and feel like our lives (and careers) are spiraling downward? Absolutely not! Whatever life throws at you, there are ways to keep successfully navigating through those sometimes choppy currents.
I recently have had to overcome an unthinkable change (for me) in my life. I have always been able to adapt to any obstacles that my lifelong physical disability (Cerebral Palsy) has thrown in front of me. Whether it has been enduring horrific teasing when I was young by my classmates because of the way I walked, people telling me that I needed to stay with “my kind” and not think about going out with an able-bodied girl (I have now been married to a wonderful able-bodied woman for more than 25 years), or falling much more as I have gotten older (I’m now 50).
Beginning a couple months ago, however, I now have to use a walking aid – a cane – most days to make sure I stay upright and not hurt myself by falling. Sounds like a no-brainer, you say…it is helping me staying walking and mobile. But, as some of you have had to deal with your own set of unexpected challenges, I had always hoped this day would never come. It unfortunately has, despite all my lifelong efforts to stay fully independent.
I have had the cane for a couple months, and my body is adapting to it being there. It’s my mind, unfortunately, that has a ways to go. I have been independent all my life, and it is hard to believe that it is time when I need to be more interdependent with an external aid.
That is why the resilient strategies of adaptability, perseverance, persistence, patience and so many others are especially important for me right now – and you!
Unfortunately, most of us have been knocked down in our personal or professional lives in one way or another. It’s not that we have been hit – all of us have been there at one time or another in our lives. We do need to get up from the mat no matter what our challenges are.
Next year at this time my “mental struggles” with the cane will be a distant memory. Will some of your career and life challenges today be hanging around for that long? As I am learning, you will always find a solution to the unforeseen life and career obstacles you are facing now. Please just believe and practice your resilience, and you will find a satisfying and more productive day will lay ahead.
Thanks, again, for supporting me tremendously on my site. I will be adding e-books and other resilience tools soon to hopefully enhance your successful life’s journey.