Act with Courage
February 7, 2024
Be Stubborn
February 21, 2024
Thrive – to pursue joy and meaning in your life. In this 7-part blog series we are exploring how your resilience skills can help you thrive. Each blog will focus on a constellation of skills that can be used to pursue the life you want.
Thriving is more fun with friends. And by friends I mean those people you intentionally choose to journey with toward your goals. They are company along the way, inspiration, practical advice, and the occasional course correction all rolled into one. Your thriving friends are those who get your values but may approach them from a different perspective. Your thriving friends get excited about where you are going and why it matters to you. Their journeys may be different than yours but there is an intertwining that supports you both moving forward.
These may be new people in your life or long-term friends and family members. There may be people you love dearly who are supportive but don’t run with you in the same way that your thriving friends do. And that’s okay. You need all kinds of people in your life, except abusive, draining, or mean people. You don’t need them in your life. Create distance with those people using your boundaries. Share your dreams and delights, worries and doubts with those who are also striving for bigger dreams. Trust your vulnerable side to those who are cheering you on.
Your resilience skills support you in thriving when you use them to reach out. Know that you are worthy, and that your wisdom, kindness, and spark make a difference.
Connect
Joy shared is sublime. Pursuing meaning with others is powerful. Keep reaching out until you find those people. Know that relationships don’t last forever. Build together, laugh together, conspire to be your best selves together. When your paths separate, wish them all the best and keep following your dreams. The legacy of your time together feeds both of your journeys.
Communicate
Ask questions. Make requests by asking for help from healthy people. (I wrote a whole blog about this.) Join groups that are pursuing similar goals and share your thoughts, ideas and questions. Share resources and ask what they have discovered. Read and comment on their posts, blogs and emails. Write or record your ideas. Interact with those who reach out to you.
Collaborate
The goal is not to find people who are identical to you but who complement you. Standing around and agreeing with one another does not move the needle in your life. Work together with people whose energy sparks something in you. Whether you are laughing yourself silly while playing a game, or losing track of time because you are making stuff happen, find those people who help you feel alive.
A word about anxiety:
Interactions with someone you don’t know can be fraught with worry. You may have that voice in your head, left over from middle school. What if they don’t like me? What if I’m not ___________ enough? What if they don’t agree with me?
Remember these things: You are worthy. Other people’s opinions of you are none of your business. Not everyone is meant to be your friend. Anxiety is meant to keep you safe, if there isn’t a safety issue remind it to shrink down out of the way.
Thriving with others is amazing. Your social circles are likely to expand, overlap, and ripple as you pursue new areas of joy and meaning in your life. As you connect, communicate, and collaborate your ideas will expand. Your joy will spark others’ joy. Your passions will ignite others’ goals. New ideas, examples, and encouragement will energize you. Your resilience will become a source of strength for you and for those you meet along your journey.
Peace,
Laura A. Gaines
This is part four in a seven-part series. To get caught up, check out Resilience to Thrive , Center in Your Own Wisdom, and Act with Courage. The next two weeks will continue to cover specific groups of resilience skills useful in building a life of thriving. Part seven will be our conclusion. You are welcome to comment as we go by sending an email to resilience@learnmodelteach.com or engaging on LinkedIn or Facebook.
