On Being a Control Freak, Resilience & Life Reimagined

It's a constant struggle being a control freak when life is out of control.  And when isn't it, really? As I struggle to regain my house from mountains of merchandise after underestimating how much display space I have in various venues I am plagued.  The latest plague? An ache in my right foot that makes it impossible to put my full weight on it.  Hard to stand to paint, hard to walk up and down stairs to move inventory, hard to clean my house. After a month of this nonsense (I'm no quitter!) I finally succumbed to the painful ministrations of the cortisone wielding podiatrist this morning and am confident I will bounce back. Because that is What We Do around here. 

As I look to my weekend's plans I am amused as they include celebrating resilience.

"Resilience, they concluded, is a mixture of personality traits, biology, and life experience, each part shaping the other. Resilience looks an awful lot like Bob Stifel." These are not my words but an except from Former NPR Reporter & New York Times Best Selling author Barbara Bradley Hagerty.  

Bob and I met Barb when she was looking for folks who had thoughts about thriving at midlife for her new book Life Reimagined.  "Our" Chapter 8 is called "When Bad Stuff Happens" and I must say that re-reading it reminds both Bob and I how blessed we are.  Even with battling insurance companies for a new artificial leg for Bob and jumping through all my creative hoops, I can truly say life is indeed a gift to be celebrated.  

We were blessed to meet Barb.  She was recovering from a bad bicycle fall, but still full of curiosity and drive to chronicle her "deep and often inelegant dive into the research to discover how to thrive at midlife." 

To celebrate Barb, her awesome book and celebrate us non spring chickens who aspire to a better rest of our lives we are hosting a book signing at Alexia Scott's Studio Gallery at 106 Little Falls Street in Falls Church on Sunday June 5th from 2 to 4pm. Please bring a friend and join us if you can. If you can't attend but would like an autographed copy of the book, leave a comment or email me at Theresa@stifelandcapra.com and I will get it for you.

For more on Barb and her writing visit her website that begins "Welcome to my website, where I detail all of my accomplishments and none of my failings."  My kind of woman!

See you Sunday!

Theresa

PS- Look! the dining room table is back in the middle of the room and you can see the FLOOR! Proud of me???

Explaining why the book signing is not here at the house... :)