I'd like to share with you some resilience strategies that have helped me both IN and OUT of the agility ring. 

The cool thing is that these strategies are readily available to all of us and anyone can learn them!

Resilient people understand that "sh*t happens".

Suffering is part of life.

It doesn't mean they actually welcome it in, nor are they delusional.  It's just that when the tough times come they seem to know that suffering is part of every human existence. And knowing this will stop you from feeling discriminated against when the tough times come.

Never once did I find myself thinking 'why me?' during my 24-hour search for Tobie.  The reality is that terrible things happen to me, just like they do to everybody else.  And to stay sane I had to remember that THIS is part of life.  We all have the choice to 'sink or swim.' 

The real tragedy is that not enough of us seem to know this any longer.

We seem to live in an age where we feel that we're entitled to a perfect life where shiny happy photos on FB and Instagram are the norm. 

When actually, the very opposite is true.

Resilience isn't some fixed genetic trait. It's not something elusive that some people have and some people don't. It actually uses very ordinary processes - just the willingness to give it a try!

I think we all have moments in life where our life path splits and the journey we thought we were going down takes some terrible turn.  It veers off in some terrible direction that we never anticipated, and we certainly didn't want it to happen to us. It is awful beyond imagining. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you think there's 'no way I'm coming back from this' I urge you to lean into these strategies and think again.  

I won't pretend that thinking this way is easy. And it doesn't remove all the pain. But if I've learned anything over the years, it is that thinking this way really does help more than anything. It has shown me that it IS possible to live and grieve at the same time and that I CAN focus on the good things in my life.  And for that, I will be always grateful.

To your Resilience,

Elicia