This past spring, my younger son and his girlfriend took a trip to the Smoky Mountains where they rented a place and went hiking during the day.
About a week after they got back home, the two of them, along with my older son, came over for dinner and I was excited to hear the details of their trip. They loved it, of course, and then told me that their first day out they asked a ranger for some help, and misunderstanding them (I guess), he sent them out on a much longer trail than they had inquired about. They walked for what felt like forever when my son said he was worried they'd be losing light soon. And then he noticed a bear print on a large rock, bent down and found it was still wet. At this point his girlfriend said, "I'm exhausted and there's a bear near us and I feel like crying", to which he calmly replied, "It's okay to cry, but you have to keep moving."
I've survived emotional abuse growing up, divorce, the loss of friends that can happen when you divorce, the deaths of people who were very important to me, and stage 1 non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Throughout all of these challenges in life, the best advice I've gotten can be summed up in that simple phrase, "It's okay to cry, but you have to keep moving."
What I've learned is that:
99% of the things we worry about never happen.
99% of the things that do happen are never as bad as we feared they would be.
It's the challenges that teach us and improve us - as long as we're committed to being better and not bitter human beings.
It's okay to cry, but you have to keep moving.
When I'm not reading your emails I conduct a Management Training Class for companies around the country. I'm also a published author.
Is anyone else ever so taken by a Listserve contribution that you take a peek at the writers photo on LinkedIn so you can put a face to the font? There should be a word for that.
Connect with me on LI or drop me an email to say hi.
Maureen Barberio
[email protected]
Chicago suburb