2023, what a wild ride! It's been a rollercoaster of challenging events on all fronts - from personal and family stuff to global happenings. Honestly, it was so much that I can't wrap my head around it.
The year started with heartbreak due to the unexpected loss of my dear friend in the very first week. Before I could even process this loss, life presented more challenges: a facial injury (see my post-injury insights), my husband's close call with a heart attack, which led to emergency surgery and the postponement of our vow renewal event, the ongoing painful war in Israel, and just recently, I was involved in a bike accident with a motorbike, resulting in a head injury.
My resilience got a serious workout, let me tell you!
Kept having to dig deep, finding the mental and physical strength to handle whatever life decided to throw at me.
But you know what's crazy?
Amidst all the chaos, this year also brought me many beautiful memories and some amazing accomplishments worth celebrating.
I'll definitely mark this as a year of personal and professional growth.
On the personal front, I celebrated 20 years of marriage in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by friends and family. I continued the journey of reconnecting with my authentic self through several experiences, embracing openness and honesty in my life, and I further fine-tuned my parenting skills
On the work front, I enjoyed watching my clients grow and progress towards living their desired lives. I overcame the challenge of creating content I experienced at the beginning of the year and found my voice as a Positive Psychology coach, resulting in not only sticking to my plan of monthly posts but also stretching myself to dive into short video recordings. I pulled off my first positive psychology workshops and, lately, even led a whole retreat!
So, here's the scoop:
all these actions facilitated my progress in my journey to become what I set out to be - a guide, akin to a beacon of light, helping people find their way back home to themselves and live better lives.
My hope is to radiate light for anyone who needs it.
Yeah, I know. It might come across as cheesy, but I truly believe this is my purpose in the world.
But the reason I'm telling all of this to you is not for a round of applause (though I wouldn't mind one, just saying!).
It's because these wins are the real deal, showing that even in the toughest times, in the face of challenges, you can grow and thrive. This is PTG - post-traumatic growth.
This growth can take you beyond resilience to become antifragile, a term Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduced.
Antifragility, in essence, suggests that instead of merely being resilient or adaptive, you become stronger when confronted with intense stressors, chaos, and disorder.
It means that you're using the experience to grow and improve yourself.
If it sounds like I'm suggesting you invite trauma and chaos into your life, let me assure you, that's not the case.
But since it's gonna show up uninvited anyway, we might as well embrace the antifragile mindset and come out of it better than we were before, right?
So, how can you rock this antifragile mindset for the new year ahead?
Eliminate from your life what is unnecessary. As Taleb writes, "The first step towards antifragility consists in first decreasing downside." It's a key move for a better life.
Accept you can't control everything and curveballs will come your way. Approach everything as an experiment. Taking small risks is your ticket to learning and growing. Even if you fail, it won't be the end of the world.
Plan ahead - Got goals? Perfect. But also have a backup plan on standby. So, if things don't go as planned, you're not calling it quits, but, you're setting up your safety nets and are moving on to the next step in your plan.
Build your inner strength by developing healthy coping mechanisms such as exercising, journaling, meditating, art, you name it. When we don't depend on external aids to help us cope, we're actually strengthening the resilience we've already built.
As you step into 2024, I want you to keep in mind that you ALWAYS have a CHOICE.
Even in situations beyond your control, you can always manage your self.
Your mindset. Your belief. Your actions.
Don't wait for the perfect moment to shape the future you desire.
It's always the right time.
Or never, depending on how you choose to look at it.
So, I encourage you to tap into your inner strength, seek opportunities, and embrace an antifragile mindset.
May 2024 be your most resilient and robust year yet!
Love,
Elinor
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