In a French class I’m taking, we were required to watch the movie, Lost Illusions, from the book by author Honore de Balzac, about a young man with grand illusions who went to Paris and saw all his dreams shattered. He returned home disillusioned and wiser. As I finished watching it last night it reminded me of people I’ve known over the years who have had a major upset or huge disappointment, and they were never able to rise above it or get over it. Which makes me believe we definitely need a mandatory class for all college freshmen on resilience, tenacity and how-to-survive-when-we-are-disappointed.
One woman told me recently she survived by putting one foot in front of the other. Some simply realize nothing remains the same and everything has a shelf life, even disappointment. And others learn they have control over how they view a challenge and look at what they can do to start creating a different reality.
And from my perspective, when we want a template on how to survive anything and still go on to flourish and survive, read Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. As a prisoner, neurologist and psychologist in a concentration camp, he discovered that with purpose, it is possible to survive and overcome anything.
It’s always easy to blame, give up or carry around a bucket of reasons why we’re stuck. On the other hand, we can model the courage and vision of Frankl and know there is always a way around whatever obstacles seem to be in our way, we’ve just got to be paying attention to where and how we can move forward.
