In the chat below, tell us a little bit about yourself. If you don’t know where to get started, here are a few prompts:
How has adversity impacted your life? You are welcome to share your whole story, or provide a few specific anedcotes. Anything you feel comfortable sharing.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve read/received about dealing with adversity?
What is something you know now that you wish you had known 5/10/15/20 years ago?
What adversity-related topics are you interested in learning more about?
One of the turning points in my life was when I realized that everyone is dealing with something. My goal with this chat is to foster connection and let you know that you’re not alone.
Thank you Chris for creating this space for sharing and connection. Adversity is a universal part of the human experience, and it's so important to open up about it and support one another. I'm interested in learning more about resilience and strategies for maintaining mental and emotional well-being during difficult times. It's a topic I believe can benefit us all. I'm looking forward to hearing from others and sharing in our collective wisdom and experiences. We're in this together, and together, we can find strength and support.
I shouldn't have been the grownup in the room when I was 3. I can't even say I was raised by wolves...do you know what sloths do? (Actually, it's what they don't do. Link below, if you're curious.) So, bad parents, dysfunctional upbringing, asthma and allergies (allergic to animals which would lead to an asthma attack, 'cept horses, which would lead to death...and we had two). So there were certain places I couldn't go, certain things I couldn't do. And this is no "poor me" story. What those small things did was help me understand we all have our sh!t, our limitations, our pain, and you can either have some compassion for that or live your life as an asshat. Choice is ours! The best advice I ever received was from a therapist who said I didn't have to have a relationship with my mother/family. I looked at her and said, "I thought the whole point of therapy was to fix me so I could deal with broken people." She shook her head no and said, "Not if there's no payoff, not if it hurts you." 🤯 Advice I would give to anyone at any age: Reduce the amount of fux you give over what anyone thinks. Think of those fux as gold. Who deserves your fux? Dole them out sparingly. Or, keep them all to yourself! And, like you said, Chris, it's all about connection. We are much more the same than we are different. But, we need to step outside ourselves to see that not everyone has a smooth path. And, if we can aid in helping that path get smoother, we should do it (advocating, activism, opening eyes, disarming our ableism). Excited for the community you're building, Chris. xo
Thanks for giving us all the opportunity to "meet" each other, Chris!
Recently, adversity has looked like a pileup of losses: a divorce, my mom's death, and job loss happening in quick succession. In navigating these losses, I've found that community support is a *huge* part of resilience.
As a kid, I navigated the challenges of an alcoholic family system. Later in life, I learned that other people growing up in these circumstances faced very similar challenges—and that it wasn't too late to understand and heal from the experience. So basically: there isn't a statute of limitations on building resilience!
I'd love to learn more about the role of the nervous system in processing stress and building resilience. 🤓
I’m a big fan of Hello, Adversity. Amazingly insightful posts and brilliant to see your Substack going from strength to strength.
I’m Martin. I live close to London, England and write Never Stop Learning; a Substack devoted to giving you actionable advice for improving your life. I cover topics from being seen more at work, to using A.I., improving your health to mastering your mindset.
It’s been 18 months on Substack and I’ve met so many amazing people here and learned so much. It’s just a nice place to hang out.
Living with a rare disability puts you up against all kinds of adversity on a daily basis. Accessibility, societal ignorance and judgment, justification, questioning...the list goes on and on. I'm also in a challenging living situation right now with not a lot of options for getting out. It's always a work in progress, but the one thing that I can say that helps me the most has been acceptance. Instead of complaining or getting angry about any crappy or difficult situation, accepting it allows me to release the stress and anxiety associated with said situation much more (while also realizing when I need to accept something, but also make a change). Acceptance has been a huge tool in helping me combat my struggles with anxiety in general too. Thank you for creating the guestbook Chris!
Thank you Chris for creating this space for sharing and connection. Adversity is a universal part of the human experience, and it's so important to open up about it and support one another. I'm interested in learning more about resilience and strategies for maintaining mental and emotional well-being during difficult times. It's a topic I believe can benefit us all. I'm looking forward to hearing from others and sharing in our collective wisdom and experiences. We're in this together, and together, we can find strength and support.
I shouldn't have been the grownup in the room when I was 3. I can't even say I was raised by wolves...do you know what sloths do? (Actually, it's what they don't do. Link below, if you're curious.) So, bad parents, dysfunctional upbringing, asthma and allergies (allergic to animals which would lead to an asthma attack, 'cept horses, which would lead to death...and we had two). So there were certain places I couldn't go, certain things I couldn't do. And this is no "poor me" story. What those small things did was help me understand we all have our sh!t, our limitations, our pain, and you can either have some compassion for that or live your life as an asshat. Choice is ours! The best advice I ever received was from a therapist who said I didn't have to have a relationship with my mother/family. I looked at her and said, "I thought the whole point of therapy was to fix me so I could deal with broken people." She shook her head no and said, "Not if there's no payoff, not if it hurts you." 🤯 Advice I would give to anyone at any age: Reduce the amount of fux you give over what anyone thinks. Think of those fux as gold. Who deserves your fux? Dole them out sparingly. Or, keep them all to yourself! And, like you said, Chris, it's all about connection. We are much more the same than we are different. But, we need to step outside ourselves to see that not everyone has a smooth path. And, if we can aid in helping that path get smoother, we should do it (advocating, activism, opening eyes, disarming our ableism). Excited for the community you're building, Chris. xo
Here's that promised link: http://www.slothville.com/what-is-a-sloth/#:~:text=Mother%20sloths%20can%20be%20protective,come%20down%20to%20rescue%20them.
Thanks for giving us all the opportunity to "meet" each other, Chris!
Recently, adversity has looked like a pileup of losses: a divorce, my mom's death, and job loss happening in quick succession. In navigating these losses, I've found that community support is a *huge* part of resilience.
As a kid, I navigated the challenges of an alcoholic family system. Later in life, I learned that other people growing up in these circumstances faced very similar challenges—and that it wasn't too late to understand and heal from the experience. So basically: there isn't a statute of limitations on building resilience!
I'd love to learn more about the role of the nervous system in processing stress and building resilience. 🤓
Hello Christopher and everyone here.
I’m a big fan of Hello, Adversity. Amazingly insightful posts and brilliant to see your Substack going from strength to strength.
I’m Martin. I live close to London, England and write Never Stop Learning; a Substack devoted to giving you actionable advice for improving your life. I cover topics from being seen more at work, to using A.I., improving your health to mastering your mindset.
It’s been 18 months on Substack and I’ve met so many amazing people here and learned so much. It’s just a nice place to hang out.
Living with a rare disability puts you up against all kinds of adversity on a daily basis. Accessibility, societal ignorance and judgment, justification, questioning...the list goes on and on. I'm also in a challenging living situation right now with not a lot of options for getting out. It's always a work in progress, but the one thing that I can say that helps me the most has been acceptance. Instead of complaining or getting angry about any crappy or difficult situation, accepting it allows me to release the stress and anxiety associated with said situation much more (while also realizing when I need to accept something, but also make a change). Acceptance has been a huge tool in helping me combat my struggles with anxiety in general too. Thank you for creating the guestbook Chris!