After working in the same company for decades and expecting to work for many more years, mom inherited a supervisor who was unkind, exploitive, and just plain mean. Reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, she escaped this tyranny by retiring in 1991. Soon thereafter, the company announced a change to retiree benefits that would discontinue free lifetime medical coverage for anyone retiring after 1991. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical benefits for my parents is a silver lining behind the intolerable situation at work that hastened her choice to retire.
After more back pain than she could suffer, my sister had a breast reduction surgery. The post-surgical lab tests came back revealing cancer in both breasts that had been undetected by mammograms and self-exams. The radical mastectomy and chemo that followed were among many challenges she would have deal with. Now, five years later, she is alive and well and cancer free. Detecting and surviving cancer is a silver lining behind her back pain.
After a careless driver broadsided my car, I contacted my long lost buddy Dr. John, a chiropractor, to untwist my body. Within eight months I would be attending his funeral. The accident led me back to my old friend John. Reconnecting with him was a silver lining behind the accident.
A friend lived in a 20-year-old townhouse, sharing a common wall with a noisy and unrelenting neighbor. The Northridge earthquake significantly damaged her neighborhood and made it necessary for everyone in the complex to move out for nine months while the homes were all rebuilt from the foundation up. The neighbor didn’t move back in, and soundproofing her walls and getting a brand new house out of the deal was the silver lining behind this devastating act of nature.
I have hundreds of stories to demonstrate that it’s not the situation (good or bad) that defines our future, but our response to it that makes the greatest difference. “They” say “April showers bring May flowers.” Isn’t it grand the Month of May has 31 days in it?
I hope you have many flowers to enjoy and that you always remember: suffering is usually temporary and optional.
Call Debbie to schedule a consultation for therapy/coaching in Valencia at 661-259-5986 or Encino at 818-385-0550.