Today, I finished my aunt’s book “Hectic Happiness” by Dr. Gilda Werner Reed. Toward the end of her book, she talks about how she used what she teaches in her UNO classes to help students get through the PTSD from the levee breaks after Hurricane Katrina. Aunt Gilda is a Psychology professor at the University of New Orleans. One of the fundamental things she teaches can be best summed up in the following quote from the book:
“ You may not be able to control bad things that happen like hurricanes and broken levees, but you can certainly be taught to control your interpretation of and response to these things. This thing called optimism does not mean sugar-coating all the bad stuff that happens. It means recognizing it for what it is – bad – but not allowing it to keep on extracting a toll indefinitely – not allowing it to victimize you as hostage forever. How you pick up the pieces – how you choose to mend will determine the ultimate outcome. Learn how to be happy in misery, rather than miserable because of it. Be a true survivor! Roll with the punches – bounce back after bad things and setbacks happen. This can all be yours if you establish and nurture and practice optimism. Optimism requires ongoing work but is well worth all the effort. It allows you to make the best of a bad situation and is so critical in the war against depression. “
Katrina changed a lot of people. Even me. Although, going through Katrina, divorce, and even the rare conditions going on in my body (read in “Sick Girl Diaries”) I see where I have applied this principle to my own life.
One thing that has helped me to stay optimistic is God’s promise to be with me throughout it all. Putting my trust in him and getting messages back through scriptures.
When Katrina and the levee break happened, I lose almost every possession but I still had my life. Water sat in the Lakeview house, I was living in at the time, for 3-months. There was nothing to salvage. Inside this water ruined house were photo albums, rare currency, yearbooks, clothes, my brother’s letterman jacket and the first bed I ever bought.
However, one thing I do remember from going into the house as far as I could is the scene in the kitchen. In a room of chaos, where all the furniture, cabinets, refrigerator were thrown all over each other on top of it all was a bamboo “lucky plant” sitting on top as nothing had happened.
Seeing the plant sitting there perfectly on top of the chaos made me realize everything would be okay. The sentimental things I loss can’t be replaced but I lived, survived and I gained a new outlook on life. Lucky for me my old journals were at my mother’s house and didn’t get ruined.
A few months before the storm I got married. Another long story for another time. After the storm, I started to treat life and everything that came differently. When my husband wanted to pursue a dream, I didn’t stand in his way. I really believe a person must do what makes them happy. If something is not making them happy then they need to move on. Well, that finally happened in our relationship but I survived and carried on after divorce.
After the storm, I really pursued my degree and graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University in May 2008. I really didn’t want to leave but knew it was time. I went on to try a career in the field I graduated in and ended up growing more than expected. It made me realize I’d like to learn something more. Social Media was emerging and I wanted to get on board. Which led me to web design.
Since 2016, life gave me more trials: loss of vision, rare tumor (idiopathic: my own disease), and other medical conditions. Throughout it all, I maintained an optimistic outlook. I knew then and still know now there is a greater purpose for the trials I go through. Each trial allows me to learn something more about myself and help others. One of the reasons why I started blogging.
Are you an optimistic person?