What are we afraid of?

Lessons in Love, Loss and Resilience

It’s been amazing to get the feedback from my readers and listeners of the podcast. People I would never have imagined are tuning in or reading the lessons in love, loss and resilience. What’s unexpected to me, the number of men that are pulling me aside or sending me a message that it has meant so much to them.

In so many ways, it is hard for people to process grief, loss, uncertainty. Trust me, I totally understand. I used to watch a movie and if I began to tear up, I would pretend to cough or wipe the tears in order to not be noticed. Didn’t want the old assumption of not being a man by showing the tears. I mean, how can you watch McFarland, Remember the Titans and some of these sports movies and not get emotional. It is inspiring to say the least.

The understanding of our older generations and the general assumption that therapy is only for crazy people is just that…CRAZY. We all need support in certain times, whether that is through your faith, your community, your family or your therapist. Sometimes it is all of the above and that is okay. Our time here is limited and in order to leave an imprint on our world, no matter how big an imprint, we must be our best as much as possible. We will have our highs and lows, trust me. The people I am chatting with in the podcasts have had lows. Scarlett, lost her son in Sandy Hook. Elissa, lost many family members and overcame some unbelievable life challenges. TJ lost is wife and unborn child in the shooting at the Pathway Home. Rob lost his ability to walk and has many other challenges in his life after his spinal cord injury. Yet each of these people have been able to find hope. Their resilience came through many channels and they each overcame in different ways due to their own stories and their own path taken.

I ask in the title of this post, “What are we afraid of?” Why are we afraid to ask for help? Why are we afraid to see a therapist? Why are we afraid of change, loss, death? All of us have different answers to each of these and so many other questions that cause fear. I will say, I don’t know how someone gets through tragedy without some sort of faith. I don’t describe faith as religion. Faith is believing in something. Faith is believing in your relationship, believing you were meant to meet the love of your life. For me it is also trusting that while I may get knocked down, it is knowing I can choose to get back up because I have faith that tomorrow will come if it is supposed to. In the meantime, I will continue to try and put my little imprint on the world around me by getting people to open up about their journey, their loss and hopefully their path to resilience.

My book, Always November, Lessons in Loss, Love and Resilience is coming out soon. Typesetting complete, cover is nearly finished and I couldn’t be more excited to help share my story, in hope to help others in their grief and journey to resilience.