Gratitude – an Essential Component for Resilience

It’s easy to focus on things we don’t have. For us to be resilient, we instead need to have gratitude for what we do have.

That’s where I was mentally earlier this week, when I learned that the Out & Equal conference organizers made the tough but necessary and appropriate decision to cancel this year’s in person gathering due to the incoming hurricane Milton. Like many others, there was a lot of time and effort invested into this conference that meant so much to us. I was very much looking forward to delivering a session in their Leadership Lab Day. And this amazing opportunity evaporated so quickly due to events beyond our control.

But, as I say in many of my classes, shift happens.

While I was initially quite disappointed, I had to remind myself, while my feelings were valid, I needed to recognize and be grateful for the things I do have. As mentioned in my video posted last week , gratitude is one of the enablers for resilience.

I remember the Texas Snowmageddon of 2021. An unusual storm caused power and water to be lost, impacting nearly the entire state of Texas. In our Austin neighborhood, we were without power and water for more than 5 days. If it weren’t for the generosity of neighbors, we would have been without food, water, or heat. When friends of ours who were stranded out of town offered their place for us to stay, we combined three households (and our pets) under one roof. I can’t tell you how much gratitude I expressed that we had a place safe to stay.

And it was gratitude that enabled me to look forward, to figure out how to make things work. After the city worked tirelessly to get us up and running again, in just 5 days, we returned to our home. Within a few weeks, life returned to “normal”, well, as much as it could during the early times of Covid.

Fast forward to hurricane Helene two weeks ago. There are massive clean-up efforts, with many still missing the basic life necessities still today from the devastation unleashed by the storm – not to mention the loss of life itself. And with hurricane Milton about to hit, we must have sympathy and awareness for a portion of the country still trying to recover, about to be hit again with a one-two punch. It will take more than 5 days, as was our case years earlier in our situation, from these hurricanes to fully recover. It’ll be weeks, months, and even years for some.

So, while I was disappointed that the conference was cancelled, with humility, I have gratitude for what I do have, namely food, shelter, and water, especially since many in the Southern US region do not. And we have to turn our attention to what is really important right now – helping each other.

It was gratitude for what I do have that enabled me to recognize that there will be another conference – presenting to leaders right now is not life and death nor a threat to health and safety. Now is the time to help each other. We need to ensure that we’re all safe and that everyone has the basic necessities so that we can then focus on building back stronger.