Discovering True
Resilience By Sue Prentice
THE CAR DOOR FLEW OPEN, LIGHTS WERE FLASHING EVERYWHERE, THREE CARS, FOUR FRIENDS, GONE IN AN INSTANT. KNEELING ON THE ROAD, RIPPED TIGHTS, PRAYING, REELING TO ACCEPT ANOTHER ONE OF LIFE’S BLOWS.
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lashback to five years old at boarding school. A siren would sound and onto the field this girl would trek along with a few hundred boys and girls, all under 12 years old, wrapped in a standard government issue brown blanket. It was bomb-scare practise, a part of school life. Before the internet and before mobiles were available, this girl lived on a farm, her country was at war. One day aged seven, she found herself alone at home at her sandbag clad farmhouse, surrounded by a six-foot security fence offering a false sense of security. As it began to get dark, she nervously ran to lock the farmgate, her rifle in her hand, soon after she slid into a dark place where she felt safe to hide, outside, it seemed a wise choice then. Life and death for her growing up were commonplace, self-protection and self-defence mode were second nature. Always looking for opportunities, this girl knows to find the lessons in life’s experiences. She lives expecting adversity in its many forms, emotional, spiritual, physical, or financial, rising up against all odds, not looking over her shoulder. She has immigrated three times, married, has a family of her own and is a proud mum of two very resilient children. Finding solace in the beauty of nature, practising gratitude for the life we have been given, she knows to slow the pace when it all goes too crazy. Appreciating that life is a process of learning, and that failure
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is as important as success to grow, she maintains perspective drawing back on what she’s lived, evaluating every situation, appreciating the small things in life and kindness in good people. This person is me. It’s a common observation that in life some people are just weirdly lucky, successful, have an abundance of friends while others just can’t get out of their life’s emotional overwhelm. So, what separates these two types of people from each other? Do any of the phrases ‘C’est la vie!’, ‘Murphy’s Law’, ‘Que Sera Sera’, ‘That’s how the cookie crumbles’, ‘What will be, will be’ ring a bell to you? Maybe John Lennon’s famous line from the song Beautiful Boy, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” is one you know well, a quote from Allen Saunders first published 1957. We’re taught early to expect the unexpected with a casual acceptance, yet confidence comes when we are consciously aware of the lessons to be gleaned. Each of us have an ability to choose how we overcome life’s challenges, making the difference between growing or retracting as a person. This is where attitude, belief and mindset really play a part. “Every moment of one’s existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.” – Norman Mailer