I recently attended a thought-provoking and insightful Resilience Conference conducted by Bob Dees. What made this conference significant to me is the timing. Four years ago on July 30, 2015, I experienced one of the most devastating days of my life. It was a day when my entire life changed.
Getting Ready for the Storm
Bob shared the three phases of becoming resilient. He calls this the Resilient Life Cycle. The first phase is “Getting Ready and Preparing for the Storm.”
I recently attended a thought-provoking and insightful Resilience Conference conducted by Bob Dees. What made this conference significant to me is the timing. Four years ago on July 30, 2015, I experienced one of the most devastating days of my life. It was a day when my entire life changed.
Getting Ready for the Storm
Bob shared the three phases of becoming resilient. He calls this the Resilient Life Cycle. The first phase is “Getting Ready and Preparing for the Storm.”
My son, Thomas, was born with congenital heart disease. Because of his complex heart condition, Thomas needed three heart surgeries and two other major life-saving operations. Thomas had his first two heart surgeries and the two major life-saving operations before he turned one year old. During this time, he stayed in the hospital for about 8 months out of the first year of his life.
The stress of watching my son fight for his life each day was unbelievable. Parents who have children with complex medical needs, face so many different challenges. Personally, there is only one other time in my life where I felt more stress and was more challenged emotionally, physically, and mentally than the 1st year of Thomas’ life. This stress and these experiences during this first year were preparing me for the real storm that was about to occur in my life.
The second phase Bob shared was Holding On and “Weathering The Storm.” Once Thomas was able to come home after his second heart surgery, he was still very sick. To survive, he had an oxygen tank, a pulse ox, a lot of other equipment, and many different drugs. But Thomas slowly recovered and gained strength each day. During the next two years, Thomas recovered, and he began to thrive. He was weaned off the drugs. He could breathe on his own and required very little equipment to function. He was a happy, charming, and engaging boy, full of life and personality. He loved everyone and even got strong enough to run and play with other children. He loved life!
On July 13, 2015, Thomas had his third heart surgery. According to the pediatric cardiologists, this was supposed to be the easiest of the three heart surgeries.
For the next 48 minutes, the team of doctors and nurses did everything possible to save Thomas’ life. I stayed in the room and watched in hopes that my presence would inspire Thomas to continue to fight. I never gave up hope, and I always believed in him. I still do!
The third stage of resilience is bouncing back.
It challenged my views of success and failure. Plus, I had to rediscover who I am and reaffirm my core skills. I was called to use my marketing skills to help organizations who provide support for families experiencing similar situations.
Even though I didn’t realize at the time, a big part of Bob’s conference, Saturday, was me accepting and embracing the bounce.
This is exciting!
