life lessons

It is easy to get lost in preparation, overthinking, worry about being perfect. It is time to embrace doing something without knowing everything, learning by failing, learning by experience.

I have been guilty of procrastination. Thinking I need to learn more before I begin a project is one of my favorite forms of procrastinating. And you know the truth? Even if I stumble, I learn best by figuring things out. Being a true master comes from failure, or understanding what didn’t go as planned.

When I think of the hours of video recorded, without offering the clips for viewing, it makes me cringe. This is a common problem with those of us who are creative. We expect a masterpiece each time. That is a recipe for despair.

While working on a project for a client, I had to work with a new to me website. The vendor provided video tutorial instructions. The tutorials were opaque, with complex steps. After watching the tutorials, stopping, rewinding, watching again, I nearly gave up. And then I took a deep breath. I watched one more time, and the clouds of understanding parted.

Resilience Can Be Learned

Try on something different. When you embrace an attitude of strength, determination, and compassion for yourself, everything changes. Look for inspiration, not defeat. When ovarian cancer showed up on my dance card, I asked “how do I get well?” and learned about mindset, nutrition, exercise, and genetics. Unexpected gifts from a crappy situation changed my approach to life. Hard lessons for someone who lived in my head and a lifetime of ignoring my body, unless I was comparing myself to Photoshop perfect images.

One of the biggest lessons about resilience when faced with circumstances beyond my control is the power of creativity. I gathered books, podcasts, movies, and people who were nurturing and supportive. You might look at who you hang out with and if they are helpful or harmful to your wellbeing. I put some folks on pause while I was in healing mode.

Learning how to be kind to myself continues as a practice. Somehow, I found the Happier podcast with Gretchen Rubin. Dan Harris got me hooked on meditation with his Ten Percent Happier podcast and app. Just look around for your favorite dose of happy.

Here are a couple of quotes from other humans who have faced adversity and triumphed.

“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

― Nelson Mandela

If you want more musings on resilience, you can find them on the driven website.

Believing in yourself makes it easier to learn and overcome bumps in the road. Resilience comes with practice, humility, and a a hearty sense of humor.

Next time you face a challenge, remember a time when you accomplished something you thought impossible. In fact, keep a journal of your accomplishments and refer to it as needed.

You are stronger than you know. And you are not alone.