Take a breath, in this present moment, and consider what you have survived.
How does that affect you?
When I look at what I have survived, I feel braver and more hopeful about what I’m facing now.
I have survived
- many holidays over my almost-66 years,
- two thousand, two hundred, and eighteen days of blogging,
- a congenital heart condition,
- many surgeries,
- sexism,
- anti-Semitism,
- the death of both my parents,
- other departures,
- fear,
- misunderstandings,
- miscommunications,
- personal comments (including being called “incapable“),
- silence,
- anger,
- rivalries,
- the dark,
- the cold,
- feeling lost,
- incompetent leaders, and
- lots of crap.
What have you survived?
I assume we’ll all survive my recent photos.
Here‘s a reggae version of “I Will Survive.”
What helps me survive? Gratitude, all those who help me create these daily blogs, and — of course! — YOU.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 
My own blunders and those of others.
❤
We have survived a lot, Ann. Here’s to us!
Here’s to us, Mark!
My survival list is a lot like yours, minus the heart condition, anti-semitism, and surgeries. I would add pneumonia and being yanked over a fence by the sleeve by a horse jealous I was petting another horse. But surviving is good, and isn’t it amazing what we survive and move on from, often without thinking about it much. Other things require a little work. Stay warm, Ann!
Thank you for this warm comment, Lisa!
Hi Ann, I survive despite myself. And here we are at the end of another year. It’s astounding that you have blogged continuously for over 2000 days, that’s like 5.47 years straight. Is that a world record? Happy Holidays to you!!!!
You, SD, have helped me survive these blogging days. Happy Holidays to you and yours!!!
Running 18 marathons – although my knees may question that
Wow. I’ve run (and I use the word run loosely) 5 and I think I’m done.
Sensible
You are both wonderful survivors!
🙂 Many thanks Ann
smiling to your resilience, Ann!
i’m happy to have survived
when others, sadly
did not!
wishing you a happy
survivable holidays 🙂
you continue to
helps us survive
happily, David.
That’s quite a list! I’ve survived many of those things too, minus the heart issue and the anti-Semitic stuff. Since we made it this far, I imagine we’ll make it through these holidays too. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you made it this far, Dawn!
I love that Thank You Card. Thanks to my favorite people, like you, I have survived this year pretty well ❣️
Thanks to lovely people like you, Val, I continue to survive! ❤
A double lung transplant!
I am so thankful you’ve survived, Dr. del Castillo! ❤ ❤
Once I lost an important school assignment over the weekend. On the way to school on Monday morning The Grateful Dead’s “Touch Of Gray” played on the radio and I started to sing along: “I will survive!”
I found the assignment in my locker.
It wasn’t life and death but I did learn that believing you’ll survive is part of surviving.
Keep surviving, Chris! It’s important.
I have survived another day, another night, another bout of depression, surviving is better then not surviving.
I’m very glad you keep surviving, Joanne.
I don’t think there is anything on my list
You’ve survived a lot, Maureen. ❤
Having survived Wegener’s granulomatosis (now called GPA), an incurable vascular disease with no cure that used to be pretty much a death sentence but now is treatable, I had an epiphany: no matter how bad my circumstances, there are others in much tougher situations! From that point, I went from a state of cynicism to one of positivity. I am alive! And that’s a pretty good place to be!
I’m so glad you’ve survived and you’re so alive! ❤
Me, too! Thanks!