I feel the earth move under my feet: a story about resilience?

“It was 1:00 a.m. Who the hell is calling me at this hour!?”

Who? Oh, just my neighbor in California (I was in Boston at the time). He called to tell me that an earthquake had moved under their feet out there, and reduced my 48 single-family home development in Watsonville to a pile of rubble.

I quickly remembered that the earthquake insurance coverage hadn’t kicked in yet. WOE! Remember the Carole King song: I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumblin’ down? Well, that had just happened to me!

Indeed, “WOE is me” became my reaction. That’s WOE as in What On Earth can I blame for this mess? This helpless victim attitude fueled a frantic state of mind that lingered for months. I was downright NO-Stuck.

It was only after wailing ‘WOE is me’ and blaming the world for my ills that I finally called an MD. No, not my doctor, but a Marvelous Denial of the lie that ‘all was lost’. As soon as I denied this lie, my frantic mind calmed, and I heard a guiding voice speak from deep within.

The guiding voice reminded me of an affirmation that had been part of my morning ritual for years - throw me a challenge and I grow stronger. This affirmation was drowned out by a tsunami of fearful thoughts, the worst being the prospect of losing everything I’d worked so hard to achieve. This became a turning point for me.

I resolved to prove that if you throw me a challenge, I grow stronger, and I began to experience “WOW,” - Wonderful Obsession with Winning. The moment I was aware that I was being over dramatic about the whole thing, I began doing the inner work needed to throw my Worries Out the Window.

With a fresh mind, I asked myself healthy questions and came up with right answers that offered me the opportunity to sell the development project without a loss. A great outcome, considering there was several million dollars at stake. Sometimes we win by not losing.

The moral of this story, which took place twenty years ago, is simple. When anxious thinking ebbs and ceases, resilience kicks in. Resilience is the ability to return to one’s creative state of mind after it’s been taxed by adversity. It’s a quality of character that enables you to pick yourself up and get back in the game.

Everyone is resilient, but the weight of immediate circumstances can sometimes push it underground. You unleash your resiliency when you have a clear understanding of your potential to win. You can go from WOE to WOW no matter what the odds may be.

Please share a WOE to WOW resiliency experience that you’ve enjoyed. Leave a comment to help others understand better their natural inclination to refuse to give up. You will find mention of the resilient nature of the mind in my new book, A Second Chance At Success.

Thank you and blessings