Anti-Fragile 2013

“…Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, and rumors or riots intensify when someone tries to repress them, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil…” Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile

As I am reading this, I can’t help wonder. When? When will all this stress and tension finally pay off and I will get to star in my own “Phoenix Rising?”

2012 has been a hell of a year. This was the year that changed my life and the lives of my family. Fragility of life, the “moment” the serendipity of blows unforeseen and irreversible, unwanted and unavoidable change, pain, fatigue and the occasional, unavoidable despair about the uncertainty of the status quo.

I acknowledge all that. I know that the depth of this emotional turmoil is going to end up making me stronger, resistant, less vulnerable and in the end, as Taleb admonishes “antifragile.” It’s damn hard while the fog has not yet lifted and the clarity of the picture of life is still unclear. Yet, I know that all of us have this “protean” gene. As I wrote in an older post “…People change when the pain of the status quo becomes greater than the fear of making the change…”

And while good intentions don’t often survive a head crush with reality, moving beyond the intention sounds like a New Year Resolution – and how many of those have you checked off during your personal year-end inventory? Regardless of inventories, check lists and promises why not stick to the lessons learned instead, the trust earned, the moments that mattered, the connections that worked. We all  have the stuff that anchor us to the ground under our two feet. My recipe is going back to those, bowing and paying tribute to the people who support me through time, hardship and pain.

So, here is to all of you, my invaluable friends – may 2013 pay off in kindness, contentment and less hesitation.