Have you ever experienced an A-ha! moment? A light bulb suddenly turning on, epiphanies taking root? Resilience Road by Beth Koritz is that book for me. I had so many moments like that, some of which I will share below, and others I have shared with Beth already. A story about struggles, obstacles, disappointments, illness and much more, Beth’s story is the true story of finding her authentic life path. I warn you now, as personal as Resilience Road is (can you tell from the synopsis below?), this post about it, is equally personal!
How many times have you taken a look at your life and thought these words? “Things have got to change.”
Well, Beth had said them before, but when she opened her eyes in the ICU, paralyzed from the neck down and facing a tremendous fight to regain very basic functions, she knew she finally meant them. Her story is one of resilience: in the face of disease, life’s unexpected curves, and a journey that veers off the track.
With total honesty and refreshing humor, Beth reflects on the checklist-style life she’d been living and conquering. Career. Husband. Kids. House in the suburbs. But then her body tells her in no uncertain terms that it’s time to slow down and take a hard look at what she has… and what she really wants.
In sharing her own deeply personal experiences, Beth introduces us to the tools and philosophies she has developed along the way and now uses in her therapy practice. This is the story of a courageous comeback that is really a breakthrough to living an authentic life on your own terms.
The Short Take
This is an amazing book about learning from the obstacles that one faces and continuing to try to create an authentic life. Throughout her life, Beth faced medical issues as well as relationship problems while she struggled to figure out whether she truly wanted to do those things or she was just trying to follow the checklist society had created.
A thoughtful book, exploring real struggle and resiliency with a toolkit to give the reader the ways to make it happen, Resilience Road is an touching memoir and self-help book, all in one! Beth is brutally honest about her perception of herself and the world, her mistakes and her takeaways. Through her experiences, she challenged me to think about my situation and relationship to society. She confirmed many of the thoughts I had been having in recent months and that is another reason I loved this book and will go back to it again!
Themes for Thought
If you have read my other book thoughts articles, you know that I usually pursue some research when I write this section of the post. But once in a while, I come across books that lead me to look deeper within myself. Resilience Road is one of those books and Beth’s story comes at a point in my life when I needed it, without realizing it. The following two themes are very personal and I hope that if you yourself have gone through any of these situations, you will be able to relate, and maybe, pick up this book.
On Building an Identity
Have you ever wanted to take on a new role and make sure that everyone you interact with, wherever that role is relevant, know that is who you are now?
I think in order to build certain identities, it is possible to forget that experiencing the now is equally important. When I started bookblogging a couple months back, I got really into it. I started getting requests from authors to review their books, got onto publishers’ bookblogger programs and could access the catalogs that NetGalley and BookSirens have – there was suddenly no end to books! I was reading like 10 a month.
You know what happened? Sometime last month, I felt out of balance.
That’s why I wrote my blog post on balance and turned to my Goodreads data to help me make better decisions. I mentioned Resilience Road in that post, and this is partly why – I learned from this amazing book that I have to enjoy the moments. I can’t let my drive to be someone (bookblogger) take away my joy of reading and writing.
If we keep doing the ‘what’ but don’t know or pay attention to our ‘why’, we will miss out on the joys.
I was reading Start with Why by Simon Sinek last week and he emphasized knowing the ‘why’. The whole book is full of such examples which show that when people and companies know their ‘why’, they are really good at what to do and people follow them with a zeal that a company or individual with just the ‘what’ would not be able to replicate. In marketing, it’s called client conversion.
Beth’s story is insightful in this regard. Through Resilience Road, she provides the reader with tools to help find you ‘why’ and think deeply, while her experiences are a reminded to not get lost in the ‘what’ and ‘how’.
On the Checklist
This quote is one of my favorites from this book. It reminded me of the last couple months when my partner, Clinton, and I were discussing our marriage plans. While in the midst of other people’s milestones (wedding invitations and engagement news have been a constant this year), ours felt like one we had to reach. As much as I explained that ‘it is my cultural upbringing’ (I grew up India), at one point, I got fed up.
I knew we would get married eventually but I was ruining the process of it by mentioning it numerous times. Though I wanted us to be ‘official’, I didn’t want it to happen because of pressure, whether from myself or family, and I surely didn’t want to propose myself and steal something he looks forward to doing himself! My ‘cultural upbringing’ wasn’t even justified to me.
That’s all part of the checklist that Beth talks about in Resilience Road. One that society has handed us, the very same one I have followed most of my life. Looking back now, my friction with the checklist started three years ago, and I have detoured form it man times already, but now, I refuse to follow it.
We will get there when we get there.
Many years ago, my father told me that everything happens at the best of time. Beth’s book has reminded me of those words and now I keep them in mind with renewed conviction.
I never expected to think so deeply when I decided to accept this book from Beth as a gift. Since reading it and sharing some of my thoughts with her, our friendship has only developed more.
** Resilience road: Exploring your authentic life path is available in stores so get a copy and let me know what you think! You will love this book! 🙂 **
Amazon Print
Amazon Kindle
(available on Kindle Unlimited)
Thanks for reading, my friend! Visit tomorrow when I share my Q&A with Beth!
Cover image: Photo by Simon Launay on Unsplash
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