In Denise's story, she has to navigate her present and future. Her life altering losses within a short period of time require her (and maybe you!) to skillfully manage her emotions, not allowing them to control or cloud her logic. Her goal is to not impede resiliency. We're not telling you not to have strong feelings, but try to:

1. Manage Adversity: With loss there will also be denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This is a normal and natural life process for us. What's not healthy is staying stuck in the loss. Like Denise, we must look for the seeds of benefit and focus on all we have not lost. Ask yourself: What can we do with the pain to find a gain?

2. Recognize and Assess Fear and Anxiety: It's normal to fear both the knowns and unknowns loss can and may bring. Much of the time, our fears and anxieties are manufactured by our heightened emotions. We must constantly ask ourselves if our fears and anxieties are rooted in logic. If Denise stayed stuck in her fears about employment, those fears may hinder from ever getting back into the work place to become employable.

3. Choose to Trust: Upon hearing her boss' words Denise's trust that her employer would forever reward exemplary work, dedication and loyalty was shattered. It is easy and quite normal that our first reaction is to generalize that no one is to be trusted, but Denise didn't. She knew she had to be positive, turning to her faith, and family and friends who had demonstrated they were trustworthy, in past good times and bad - her Personal Safety Net. Her resiliency, her ability to deal with the trouble and seize new opportunities, would be dependent upon her ability to trust those who can and will support and encourage her.

Content courtesy of Sue Mackey, The Mackey Group