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We Are Resilient-We Will Survive This
Lessons from our grandmothers on making the best of difficult times
Go into any antique shop, thrift store or resale shop and you will surely find evidence of your grandmother’s strength, and calm resolve in the face of difficult times. Stacks of embroidered linens, linens with lacy crocheted or tatted edgings, and crochet doilies, dressers scarves and collars, abound. What does this have to do with strength and resilience in the face of fear and uncertainty?
These items, patiently and lovingly handcrafted, were what your grandmothers and great-grandmothers were working on while their men were away fighting in a brutal war.
Their lives were far more difficult than ours because there was very little news from the front and letters could take weeks to arrive, if at all. The way they survived this immeasurable uncertainty and fear was to stay busy. When we keep our hands occupied it is easier to keep our minds from racing headlong toward the worst-case scenario they are so drawn to.
None of us wants life to change. The curious thing about humans is that we think things will always stay the same even when there is evidence all around us that life changes constantly. In this way, we cause ourselves unnecessary suffering. The changes that the novel coronavirus is…
