Hello, Adversity Monthly Newsletter #1

May 2024 Edition

This newsletter would have gone out earlier BUT it was a nice day here in Connecticut.

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the first edition of the Hello, Adversity Monthly Newsletter for paid subscribers.

The goal of this newsletter is to share interesting reads and any other noteworthy items from the past month. It will go out on the last day of each month.

Let’s get started!

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📕 Books I Read This Month

1. The Choice, by Dr. Edith Eva Eger - Dr. Edith Eger survived Auschwitz as a teenager, losing both her parents and grandparents in the camp. The Choice explores how she rebuilt her life in the aftermath of the war, and how she learned to find acceptance, forgiveness, and healing. Later in the book, Dr. Eger weaves in case studies on healing and forgiveness from her career as a psychologist.

   This book came to me at the right time, as I’ve been thinking a lot about my rare disease journey and how I respond to what’s happened in my life. This was an incredibly moving read. Highly recommend.

2. Courage Under Fire, by James Stockdale - I’ve heard author Ryan Holiday mention this book several times over the years. Courage Under Fire chronicles Stockdale’s experience as a POW during the Vietnam War after his plane was shot down while on a mission. Stockdale — who later became a vice admiral and vice presidential candidate — relied on the teachings of Epictetus, an ancient Stoic philosopher, to survive seven years of imprisonment. Courage Under Fire is a quick read (~30 pages).

3. The Learning Game, by Ana Lorena Fabrega - This book explores the ways the educational system fails to prepare children for the real world. Instead of a standard, one-size-fits-all approach to learning, kids should be free to explore their interests, which are different for each child. I especially resonated with how we should encourage kids to experiment and make mistakes instead of placing disproportionate emphasis on getting good grades. I don’t have kids but it was an insightful read.

4. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson - If you can’t tell by now, I’m a history buff. I loved this book, which explores how Britain persevered through the Blitz in 1940-41. There are many intertwined storylines, from Churchill’s courtship of American support to the day-to-day resilience of ordinary Britons.

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📰 Interesting Articles I Read

1. Overcoming Knowledge Blindness, by Justin Welsh

Justin Welsh is an expert on brand building for solopreneurs (something I’m interested in), but I liked this piece because the takeaway is applicable to anyone.

Many people never share what they know because they feel they aren’t “experts”. We think, who would ever listen to me? It turns out, a lot of people!

We are, as Welsh points out, blind to our own knowledge and how much we truly know. We don’t need to have fancy letters after our name to teach someone; we just need to know a little bit more than someone else, whether we do that through writing, posting videos on YouTube, coaching, etc.

It’s a good reminder not to sell ourselves short. We know more than we think!

I liked this anecdote:

In the movie Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale (shown below with the man who portrayed him, Leonardo Dicaprio) is apprehended by the FBI after posing as a Sociology teacher at BYU.

When they asked him, “How in the world did you teach that class? You know nothing about advanced sociology?", his answer was telling:

‍“All I had to do was read one chapter ahead of the students.”

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2. Lessons from my blue sabbatical

My friend

Maddie Burton

of

On The Cusp

wrote a heartfelt reflection on what she calls her “blue sabbatical”. Last year, Maddie was laid off around the same time her mom passed away. This piece chronicles her year of self-discovery and exploration of new creative pursuits. Although a difficult time, she learned a lot about herself.

Maddie’s writing is always beautiful and thought-provoking.

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3. My dying high school writing teacher has one more lesson. Don't wait to say thank you.

In this piece, Rex Huppke of USA Today reflects on his final conversation with his high school English teacher, George Lukacs, who was dying of cancer. Huppke credits Lukacs for cultivating his interest in writing, and he wanted to thank him one last time.

As the title of the piece indicates, we should never hesitate to tell people how much they mean to us, and to thank them for their impact on our lives:

It’s simple, really: Don’t wait. Don’t wait to thank those who have changed you. Don’t wait to let the teachers, mentors or counselors, the ones who once helped you take the next step, know they made your life better than it would have been without them.

This story hit close to home. My World Literature teacher in high school, Ms. Mischler, helped me regain my love for writing after a disastrous experience in AP English the year prior. She saw potential in my writing long before I did.

Several years later, I tried to reconnect with her to share some of my published work, only to find out that she had passed away from cancer two years before.

So yeah, this piece resonated.

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4.

The Profile

is one of my favorite newsletters. Every week,

Polina Pompliano

shares the best long-form profiles of newsworthy people and companies across different industries. (Her book, Hidden Genius, is excellent.) Polina has amassed a wealth of knowledge from these profiles, which she has begun compiling into learning guides on different subjects.

Over the last couple months, Polina has written three guides, with examples sourced from years of reading and research:

10 Interview Techniques From the World’s Best Interviewers

11 Public Speaking Techniques from the World’s Greatest Speakers

How to Become More Likable Using 9 Techniques From the World’s Most Charismatic People

I learned so much from these, especially the interviewing one. That’s something I’m trying to get better at.

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💬 Other Thoughts

• I recently finished a five-week writing course called Write of Passage. It was intense, but a fantastic experience. (Wednesday’s essay, Out of the Abyss, was the piece I wrote for the course.) The time and financial commitments were steep, but I got so much out of the feedback and camaraderie of other writers in the cohort. I’m usually a solitary writer, so it was enlightening to spend so much time talking to other writers as I wrote my piece. I never considered the value of talking through writing ideas. That’s something I’m going to incorporate into my idea-generation process going forward.

  Happy to answer any questions about the course if you’re interested in learning more!

• I just checked the calendar — I quit my job 10 months ago! It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. I’ve learned so much about myself during this time. Although it’s been fun, I am coming up against reality, and, after much reflection, have decided to re-enter the workforce. I don’t know yet what I want to do, which I guess is my first order of business.

  Either way, I’ll keep writing Hello, Adversity, so that will be unaffected.

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📢 I’d love your feedback!

What did you think of this newsletter? Anything you want to see more/less of? This will continue to evolve, so I’m open to suggestions.

Let me know in the comments.

Have a great weekend!

Chris