The things that get us through (in)voluntarily transformation

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The things that get us through (in)voluntarily transformation

Life was tough before COVID-19 showed up and shifted things to a place we’ve never seen before.

Life is now challenging for all of us in new ways.

It reminds me of when I first left college, completely out of my element without a religious home or academic structure to make me feel safe.

Few things are as peculiar and baffling as being 22 years old, but also toss in a faith crisis, stunted social skills and over-the-top constant anxiety? This was the first of a series of semi-involuntary “who am I” life transformations. Not to say I’m all cute and transformed and everything’s fine now. But who I was then and who I am now are very different creatures, and it didn’t happen by accident. It took a lot of intentional work.

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Let’s talk about survival mode, trauma and resources we all need

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Let’s talk about survival mode, trauma and resources we all need

In the last two months, you (or someone you know) have been flung into “survival mode.”

When we think about survival mode, it’s easy to assume that it only applies to poor villagers in a remote part of third-world countries where food and water are hard to come by. This is the ultimate survival mode—where everyday men, women and children live hour by hour, at the mercy of a miracle to provide for their basic necessities.

With this image in our minds, it’s easy to assume that westerners in a wealthy country like America could never experience something similar.

But survival mode is more complex: it is both real and also relative to your individual situation. A more inclusive picture of survival mode is one where we do a few things:

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