Rising from the Ashes

Our nation’s natural disasters have hit a little close to home over the past few months.  In June, Colorado’s wildfires created a cloud of smoke and ash over my community for over a month, devastated landscapes, forced my dear friend Megan to evacuate her home for weeks, and left one of my professors (and hundreds of other families) homeless.  The images are shocking as the intense heat burned or melted entire properties to nothing.  Then, just as the snow came to town and allowed us to breathe a sigh of relief, the upper east coast was hit with one of the most devastating hurricanes in its history.  While I have never before given much thought to hurricanes, this one scared the socks off of me as my boyfriend and almost his entire extended family were in the storm’s path.  While thankfully no one in the family was hurt, some of their homes were badly damaged.  Ian’s grandmother’s home, located on a series of canals near Long Beach Island, was hit the hardest.  When the storm surge came in, her home was flooded with about two feet of sediment and water and her car was nearly submerged.  The plumbing, heat, and electricity were essentially made worthless, the walls were waterlogged, all furniture and appliances were destroyed, and nearly every porous item in the house (including shoes, blankets, clothing, books, and pictures) was beyond salvageable.  The family has been working endlessly for the past few weeks trying to keep the mold at bay and to begin the long process of recovery.

This past weekend, Ian and I traveled to New Jersey to assist the family.  The devastation was beyond belief.  Every street was lined with enormous piles of discarded furniture, appliances, drywall, and personal items waiting to go to the dump.  On the island, the streets and yards appeared as though an enormous sand-colored blizzard had hit the town with drifts and plowed piles of sand lining the streets.  Most stores and restaurants were still closed and some homes no longer resembled any type of habitable structure. 

But people can be strong.  After both the Colorado fires and Hurricane Sandy, it seems as though the people had superhuman strength in their ability to start rebuilding and moving towards the future.  Homes are already going back up among the foothills and residents and contractors in the east are already rebuilding homes (on stilts for many this time).  However, this sentiment is not global.  Several homes along the shore had clearly not begun the recovery process (their front yards stood out like a sore thumb in the absence of a massive garbage pile).  Many people say they will never live in the mountains or along the ocean again.  Fear and grief can be crippling.  Ian talked a lot about resilience and the importance of continuing forward movement in the face of adversity, something his family was demonstrating incredibly.

The importance of resiliency is not exclusive to natural disasters.  Disasters of some level are bound to happen in all of our lives at some point but we are given the choice of how to face these disasters.  I cannot help but think of the obstacles many athletes face and the character shown in facing them.  For example, a friend of mine was diagnosed with a rare neurologic disorder a few years ago.  After surgery, she was told she would probably never walk again.  Refusing to be limited, she not only learned to walk again, but started to run again and has become one of the highest ranked para-triathletes in world. 

While few of us will ever face such adversity in our athletic careers, injury, illness, and even a series of bad races can be devastating in their own right.  Another one of my friends was injured last winter/spring, forcing him to the sidelines for collegiate nationals and much of his spring/summer season.  He could have easily given up or abandoned hope.  Instead, you could find him every day, looking like a weirdo, wearing a flotation belt and “running” in the deep end of the pool.  Aided by mental toughness, he came back better than ever and was on the elite podium in Dallas by the end of the season. 

As I’ve stated in previous posts, I am currently working on my personal resiliency.  I recently watched a short documentary on the British super-triathletes, the Brownlee brothers.  It is interesting that both of them mentioned the satisfaction they feel in overcoming an injury or a particularly tough race.  One can hear stories like this from most of the world’s most successful leaders and athletes.  Hunter Kemper overcame what many considered to be career-ending injuries to qualify for his fourth Olympic games.  Andrew Starykowicz was not only injured but imprisoned in Abu Dabi after crashing into a volunteer in early 2012 but has set his sights on 2013.  While some are infinitely more fortunate than others, clearly no one has it perfect.  True champions are not those who get lucky but those who dig in their heels and show a little grit.  As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  So, the next time the alarm seems a little early, the sun rises a bit too late, or the mercury drops a little too low: get tough and get going! 

To help those affected by natural disasters, please go to: http://www.redcross.org/templates/render/render.jsp?pageId=11400031&scode=RSG00000E017&subcode=paiddonationsbrand&gclid=CPa8hPPl3rMCFYYWMgod8HIAEg

Looking classy in our waterproof-tellatubby hurricane clean-up outfits