Category: awareness

awareness

Beth’s OLW for 2019

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Overdue post.

I’ve joined in the OLW (One Little Word) trend every year for the last few.  I’ve had words like focus, joy, more, and yes act as a tone-setter or guide through the year.  It usually takes me a few days to settle on one after thinking about where I am in my life and how I hope to grow.

What about 2019? After considering options like courage, go, and forward, one word kept coming back to me.

Fearless.

I originally didn’t like it since fearless strikes me a negative word.  It is about the lack of fear, instead of a positive trait like courage or fortitude.  But, then I thought about myself.  I do have a lot of fears.  I operate from worry and fear too much of the time.  I let worry keep me from taking on challenges, tasks, and possible joys. I want LESS of that for myself.  People notice when I am acting from a place of confidence and energy.  I carry myself and approach the world differently.  It shows.

So, fearless it is.  Fearless captures the power, the passion, the strength I hope to embody this year. I know this won’t mean I am suddenly unafraid or free from worry. It’s more about changing how I react to worries. I’ve already noticed myself telling friends not to get hung up on what they can’t control.  Not to operate from a place of fear.  In those moments, as I encourage friends to confront fears, I am encouraging and reminding myself, too.

Maybe I’m finally learning that, in the end, I’m the only one who catalogs my failures, not to mention the things I don’t even try to do in the first place (which are even bigger failures).  I’ve got to push forward and keep growing into myself.

This week’s example: sled pushes.  My first reaction was NO. I’m scared! I’ll get hurt! I’m too weak! (In my fearful, defensive voice!)

Then my good friend KT encouraged me to do it. Well…

And so I double checked with Coach Alex to be sure I was minimizing the chance of injury or aggravation.  He gave me form tips and the green light.  So, in front of people much stronger than me, I pushed the darn sled.  Faster and heavier than I would have ever done on my own.

Fears do come up.  They always will. It’s my choice to bow to them or challenge them.

Friends and coaches who know where I’m coming from and where I’m going help me keep pushing, fearlessly. (And in the pic below, I imagine Superman telling me I can do it, too!)

I’ll share updates about this as the year goes on.  Cheers to fearless, 2019.

 

 

awareness

In the News and Close to Home

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suicidepreventionbanner

If you read our books, you’ll know we like to start at The End.  Here, we will start with the bottom line right at the very top:

Anyone can make a difference. Ask a question save a life. It is that simple. The suicide hotline is posted above. If you know somebody who is struggling, or if you are struggling yourself, use this number as a resource!

What do a purse and a chef’s coat have in common?

If the purse is structured leather in bright colors with a spade symbol, or if the coat starched white with Brasserie Les Halles stitched on, it could be a symbol that you made it. 

But this week, in two difficult and very public stories, the purse and the chef’s coat also signify sadness. Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain both died by suicide this week.

In addition, the CDC just released data showing that the suicide rate in the US has risen dramatically in recent years for a wide variety of reasons. With these recent stories bringing suicide to the headlines, we wanted to add our voices to the conversation.

This is a subject that touches us both personally, but in different ways. KT works on the prevention side of suicide and often receives push back from many who don’t want to talk about the taboo subject.

Librarybeth is a survivor. Her grandmother committed suicide when Beth was still quite young. For many years, it’s been a taboo topic in her own family not to mention social circles.

The fact that it is taboo to talk about suicide or suicidal thoughts is part of the problem.  People suffer in silence or wonder about others but don’t ask the question.

We remember not only the famous, but the hundreds each week who die by suicide, including an estimated 20 veterans every day.

And now the bottom line again:

Anyone can make a difference. Ask a question save a life. It is that simple. The suicide hotline is posted above. If you know somebody who is struggling, or if you are struggling yourself, use this number as a resource!

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