Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup #02 - Feb. 11, 2023
Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup #02 - Feb. 11, 2023
Football, Patient Storytelling and Ice Cream
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the second edition of the Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup.
For those with a vesting interest in tomorrow’s Super Bowl, I hope the game is as entertaining as the commercials. I am rooting for the Chiefs. Why? No good reason. Mostly out of spite. I’m still scarred by the obnoxious Eagles fans who lived down the hall my freshman year of college.
Since the Super Bowl is on my mind, I am obligated to include at least a couple football articles this week. (If you hate football, skip to #3.)
All the chips were stacked against Brock Purdy ever making it onto an NFL field for the San Francisco 49ers. He was too short. He didn’t play for a blue blood in college. He was the last pick of the 2022 NFL draft (known derisively as “Mr. Irrelevant” because that player almost never makes a roster).
And yet, when opportunity knocked mid-season due to injuries to the other 49ers quarterbacks, he seized the opportunity. Although the 49ers lost the NFC Championship Game to the Philadelphia Eagles and Purdy tore an elbow ligament in the game, it was still a remarkable run.
This article explores Purdy’s mindset for dealing with adversity. He is undaunted by long odds and has learned not to get too high when he succeeds or too low when he fails. This is an instructive mindset to adopt. Even-keeled. Confident, but not overconfident to the point of arrogance.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is using the most terrifying experience of his life for good, launching a campaign with the American Heart Association to encourage people to learn CPR. Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, was saved by timely CPR from athletic trainers.
Sometimes our worst moment can inspire positive action. Is there a dark moment in your life you can use for good?
This article paints a harrowing picture of what it’s like to have the rarest of rare diseases - a condition where you have the only known genetic mutation. Although my disease is not quite that rare, I can relate to the long diagnostic odyssey the author, Beverly Gage, faced and the feeling of being an oddity in the eyes of doctors and specialists. My own diagnostic journey took over a year.
Even if you get a genetically-confirmed diagnosis, then what? The path isn’t always clear, especially with no available treatment. Says Gage:
“…[A]ll the tests and appointments, the poking and prodding, the resources of the federal government and the great marvels of twenty-first-century medicine, have not made much of a difference.
And yet it’s impossible to unknow what the tests have revealed: that I have one strange gene, with its own agenda.”
I’m always interested in how others tell their story, especially someone living with a progressive disease. It is always a fine line - on one hand you want to impart wisdom and share what it’s like, but you also don’t want your story to veer into sappy inspiration or elicit pity.
Matthew Lafleur recently wrestled with how to share his journey living with Friedreich’s Ataxia to a group of students. He decided to keep it simple:
“Remember, inspiring you is not my goal. Being real with you is.”
In a few weeks, I will discuss the importance of learning how to tell your story and offer a few pointers on what I’ve learned along the way.
Ah yes, email anxiety. When will the next one arrive? This article has several good tips on how to take control of your cluttered inbox.
I admit that I am not great at checking email infrequently, which is something the article recommends. However, I will say that the best email-related decision I ever made was removing my work email from my phone.
Bonus: Pacioretty brings ice cream to young fan who dropped his cone
Usually if a stranger brings you an ice cream cone that would be a red flag, but in this case it makes for a heartwarming story.
Bonus Bonus: For those on Instagram, I now have a Hello, Adversity Instagram account. Would love for you to follow!