Message from Jessica Lahey — Your Wellness Wednesday Update
Some of our community may recall that author and national-speaker Jessica Lahey visited District 200 this past fall to share key aspects of her book, The Gift of Failure. Jessica spoke to us recently and offered to share some perspective. Her thoughts are here:
All of us, including students, parents, and teachers, are struggling with the lack of control we have over our lives right now and one way we can deal with that is by choosing how to frame the situation. For example, we may not be able to control where we go and when we see our friends, but we can decide to own the parts of this we can control, such as what we spend our time on, what we learn, and how we process the new world of school and social life.
Research is clear on framing stress, the more we view the stressful moments in our lives as opportunities for growth, the lower our anxiety about the stressful moment. The more we take control of the elements we can control and let go of the details we can’t, the further our anxiety falls and the more resilient we become.
Some other studies show that people who use periods of great stress (one study centered on The Great Depression, for example) as opportunities to be useful to others — your family, for example — the lower their burden of negative emotional consequences those people suffered. In the study around the Great Depression, researchers found that when kids could pitch in financially or labor-wise to their family’s long-term success and welfare, the less psychological trauma they suffered. So pitch in. Help out where you can, even if that’s just modeling a positive frame of mind for your siblings.
This time is going to be a touchpoint for all of us. Hopefully, we will look back on this as a time when we learned some things and emerged with a greater sense of purpose and resilience. That’s my goal, anyway!
Writer, New York Times bestselling The Gift of Failure &
forthcoming The Addiction Inoculation (April 2021)
Co-host, #AmWriting podcast
