Hope in the Face of Despair: Overcoming Feelings of Overwhelm

Is it spring where you are? Tell me what it’s like, please! I want to know that somewhere the sun is gently warming the frozen soul (and soil); that green, hopeful shoots are peeping up; and that warm rains are drizzling life back into roots that rested for a season. Here in Minnesota, vibrant life remains buried beneath feet of ice and snow. It was 7 degrees Fahrenheit on the first day of Spring. We are ready to move on—with the seasons, with living—but venturing forth too early into an icy world carries risk. Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised to still find chill at five months into a typical Midwest winter, three years into [...]

2023-03-24T20:11:07-04:00March 24th, 2023|Categories: Health, Hope, Perspective, Resilience, Stress, Survival|Tags: , , , , |

COVID-19 Interrupted Life: How Will You Move On?

Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash Life, Interrupted:  Everyone, it seems, is reflecting on the first year of the pandemic. What’s your takeaway on how this past year has affected you, your life? I resisted but finally took twenty minutes to jot down how my routines changed (very little, other than no travel or coffee dates) and how the circumstances influenced my perspective, attitude, mood, and energy (anyone else block out the first four months?). Whether or not you even care to look back, most of us will concur that life has been interrupted. The one we were familiar with, anyway. And the changes we’ve had to make are dragging on, far longer than [...]

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My: Overcoming Distractions and Fears

Shutterstock by Francey, Wizard of Oz Yellow Brick Road in a Dark and Spooky Forest In the 1939 classic movie, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, the Tin Man, and Scarecrow confront their fears in the dark and scary forest as they travel along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. Witches and wild animals—and all sorts of imagined risks—lurk in the darkness. Lion jumps out and reminds them they need courage, along with a brain and a heart. Together, arms linked, they set off on the path to reach their individual goals. Were you missing any of these essential comrades on your journey through 2020? Did you make informed decisions, connect to your [...]

2021-01-18T11:06:16-05:00January 18th, 2021|Categories: 2021, Health, Psychology, Resilience, Survival|Tags: , , , , |

Getting Through the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from Our Ancestors

Sand sculpture of Bubonic plague. Bouke Atema. istock.com How do we get through the COVID-19 pandemic? Lately, I’ve been compelled to read stories about how others have survived something. The circumstances are less important to me than how they got through—how they responded to and managed unexpected and uncontrollable adversity. Did survivors of other pandemics, wars, or adverse childhood experiences rise to the occasion with strength and resilience to do what needed to be done, or did they retreat to a familiar comfort zone to calm their fears and anxieties or rely on others to help them get through? How did they deal with the chaos and uncertainty? Fear is a human condition, and [...]

2020-08-29T23:02:45-04:00August 29th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19, Resilience, Stress, Survival|Tags: , , , , |

Getting through: On hope and fear, life and death

The weather in Minnesota is as unreliable as the coronavirus reports, as volatile as the stock market, and as uncertain as the likelihood of jobs and normalcy returning to our lives anytime soon. The sun winks at me between low, gray clouds as I close the door with my mittened hand and gingerly head across the parkway for my daily walk. It’s always a slow start as the few nerves in my lower spine that still fire fight for control of the muscles that no longer feel anything. By the time I’ve reached the top of the hill, I’m walking steadier, but the fierce northerly winds steer me away from my intended direction. It starts to [...]

2020-04-10T22:13:26-04:00April 10th, 2020|Categories: Survival|Tags: , , |

Tech Savvy Grandma: It’s Never Too Late to Learn New Tricks

My mother’s 90th birthday is today. I’m giving her an iphone. Shhh…it’s a surprise. Two years ago, I was cautioned by three different salespeople that smartphones are harder for the elderly to learn. She wants to text, and the ABC keyboard is cumbersome. I looked up how to key in spaces, and she used it once, but then forgot. I forgot, too. It couldn’t be better timing. She’s in lockdown in a small assisted living center in western Wisconsin. We won’t be able to celebrate her milestone birthday with her, as planned, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone’s disappointed, but she is accepting. This morning, we dropped off the largest decorated carrot cake our local bakery [...]

2020-03-21T13:10:17-04:00March 20th, 2020|Categories: Survival|
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