11-1-2019

Mary’s Minute

“Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.”

                                                ~ John Green from A Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars is Zoe’s favorite book of all time.  It helped her through a tough time when she was diagnosed with lupus, which in many ways was a type of grief as she mourned the loss of a normal healthy life.  Lupus did not change Zoe, it exposed who she was.  

As I read this quote, I thought about the word “grief” and how other words could be substituted for it – both positive and negative.  Read the quote above, substituting any of the following words for grief:  hardship, illness, a joyful occasion, a new career, natural disaster, retirement, a tough class, a windfall, and the list goes on.  When things happen in our lives, we experience change, but the experience itself does not change us.  The experience reveals who we are at the core.  It points out whether we choose to embrace the new experience or fight it, whether we see the good or complain about the challenges, whether we make excuses or think of creative strategies. 

As we experience the ebb and flow of life – the changes both good and bad – we must remember that we are not changed, but exposed.  Whatever changes we are facing, we are showing who we really are in the way that we handle the change.

                                                                       Have a great week!

                                                                                    Mary