Last year, an old friend who has lived in Paris for 30+ years invited Steve and me to stay with him and his wife this summer and enjoy the Paris Olympics. They even had swimming tickets to share! It was an offer too good to refuse, so we bought our plane tickets, a few more event tickets, and started planning our trip.
Well, 2024 served up a wealth of painful and time-consuming challenges to us, including a recurrence of my husband’s lung infection. Then, in early July, I broke my toe and could only walk limited distances in a boot. Two weeks later, my husband had a car accident where he broke his sternum. We were both hobbled, and several friends questioned the wisdom of going on this big trip. We did get permission from Steve’s doctors and verified that our friends in Paris could help us handle the equipment sterilization needs that Steve’s lung treatment required. Off we went —injuries, illness, and all.
Years of practicing Resilience Skills had given us the confidence to say yes. I didn’t worry about “what might happen” because we had experience navigating difficult things before, and I knew worrying wouldn’t help. Though we knew the trip would be hard, we really wanted to go and have a respite (no more breaks, please!) from the challenges in our lives.
While traveling, we used our Resilience Skills often. I had to limit my walking to protect my healing foot, but I also had to carry everything because Steve needed to protect his healing sternum. Steve hated seeing me struggle with our carry-on luggage, so we repeatedly used the Collaborating Skills of Seeking and Honoring Agreements to negotiate how to move our bags while doing the least damage to our bodies. We used the Centering Skills of Letting Go of our expectations for seeing everything and spent time every day Nurturing Ourselves so we would have the stamina to enjoy our outings. Rather than getting frustrated by our bodies’ new limitations, Positive Reframing reminded us how fortunate we were to be there at all.
Yes, the trip was about 40% harder than if we were healthy. We both were in pain most of time. AND we had a great time! We enjoyed the sights of beautiful Paris, the fun of the Olympics, and lots of visiting with our friends. While the weather ranged from pouring rain to roasting hot, the crowds were always good-natured and friendly. A month later, (even after contracting COVID returning to the U.S.), we still feel the happy trip glow.
Regularly practicing Resilience Skills builds our inner strength to have a more joyful life! How are you going to practice your Resilience Skills?
With Resilience,
Meri and the Dovetail Learning team
Learn more about the We Are Resilient Mindsets, Skills, and Patterns here.
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