Friday Five
Holy moly, I'm doing the Friday Five and it's still Friday. Will wonders never cease.
1. What do you do to encourage yourself when going through hard times?
I tell myself to keep on keeping on. So far, that's worked. I must say, though, that with the exception of a few very rough spots, I've haven't had a lot of challenging times in my 77 years. No painful illnesses, no major surgery (hardly any minor surgery), no one close to me who was very ill or died young. Yep, living in the U.S. in the 20th and 21st centuries is generally a walk in the park.
2. How do you motivate others?
I try to refrain from fixing their problem for them. I generally feel, at all times, that I know best. This is a policy not implemented without great care and much communication, because my fix may be their horror story. Beyond jumping in and taking charge, I try to listen, encourage, and stay out from underfoot.
3. Who do you talk to for encouragement and inspiration?
My son John. When I was faced with raising my 13-year-old granddaughter as a single parent, it was John I turned to for guidance on how I should decide when something was a crisis and then how to respond to the situation.
4. What books have offered encouragement and inspiration?
Whenever life gets difficult, I ask myself, "What would Lymond do?" Lymond is the heroic hero of a six book series by Dorothy Dunnett set in the 16th C. Francis Crawford of Lymond et Sevigny is brilliant, compulsive, a leader, beautiful, intellectual, ruthless with himself, and has a deadly tendency to fix the problems of others without regard to their wishes. I rarely am able to emulate him but just thinking about what he would do puts my reactions in perspective.
5. Which of your family members have encouraged you most over the years?
My father encouraged me when, at age 11, in 1948, I told him I didn't want to be a doctor. He was bitterly disappointed. That didn't make me change my mind, but after that I knew he thought I could be anything I wanted to be.
1. What do you do to encourage yourself when going through hard times?
I tell myself to keep on keeping on. So far, that's worked. I must say, though, that with the exception of a few very rough spots, I've haven't had a lot of challenging times in my 77 years. No painful illnesses, no major surgery (hardly any minor surgery), no one close to me who was very ill or died young. Yep, living in the U.S. in the 20th and 21st centuries is generally a walk in the park.
2. How do you motivate others?
I try to refrain from fixing their problem for them. I generally feel, at all times, that I know best. This is a policy not implemented without great care and much communication, because my fix may be their horror story. Beyond jumping in and taking charge, I try to listen, encourage, and stay out from underfoot.
3. Who do you talk to for encouragement and inspiration?
My son John. When I was faced with raising my 13-year-old granddaughter as a single parent, it was John I turned to for guidance on how I should decide when something was a crisis and then how to respond to the situation.
4. What books have offered encouragement and inspiration?
Whenever life gets difficult, I ask myself, "What would Lymond do?" Lymond is the heroic hero of a six book series by Dorothy Dunnett set in the 16th C. Francis Crawford of Lymond et Sevigny is brilliant, compulsive, a leader, beautiful, intellectual, ruthless with himself, and has a deadly tendency to fix the problems of others without regard to their wishes. I rarely am able to emulate him but just thinking about what he would do puts my reactions in perspective.
5. Which of your family members have encouraged you most over the years?
My father encouraged me when, at age 11, in 1948, I told him I didn't want to be a doctor. He was bitterly disappointed. That didn't make me change my mind, but after that I knew he thought I could be anything I wanted to be.