Resilient Wednesday Weekly Memo

Hair Today, More Tomorrow The summer I interned at the National Institutes of Health, I got a perm. The chemicals burned my scalp, scorched my hair, and may have accelerated my hair loss by years. I had no regrets. It was an act of curiosity, rebellion, or denial. Probably all three. I’d grown up with […]

Seeing the small things that shape our What’s Next A few weeks ago, Sheila and I were in Taos for the memorial service for her brother, Miles. When he died in August, we’d had the chance to spend time with him and in his pottery studio, his professional home for more than fifty years. The

This week marks a significant milestone for “Resilient Wednesdays”—my 520th issue. It’s incredible to reflect on this journey that began a decade ago with a simple idea: to share stories, insights, and strategies that empower us to navigate life’s challenges with resilience and grace. Week after week, we’ve explored the many facets of resilience, from

Our heart rests between beats, our lungs catch their breath between inhalations, our eyes take it easy when we blink, and our muscles relax as a counterpoint to contraction. Our bodies’ built-in systems take a timeout to replenish their energies in the smallest moments. It’s a simple process that we can all easily adopt. Conceptualized

This past weekend, I received an email from my ParkMobile app reminding me that finding parking for an event downtown can be stressful. It got me thinking where there is stress, there must be an opportunity to practice resilience. We all have stories about ourselves as drivers. Growing up in New York City, I learned

Last week’s IT outage caused global chaos, including for my wife Sheila, who was stuck at the airport with a five-hour delay. The cause was a flawed software update released by the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which primarily impacted Microsoft’s operating systems, leading to failures across companies and individuals using Microsoft applications. Despite the horrific, widespread

Last week, I arranged for a house gutter cleaning. When the worker climbed up the ladder, he quickly came back down, alarmed. He informed me that a large wasp nest was lodged under my shingles, making cleaning a portion of the drain impossible. Seeking a solution, I contacted a friend of mine who is a

Last week’s Resilient Wednesday, on July 4th, sparked much conversation about the state of America. Many readers shared their hopes for a positive future while expressing fears that a darker reality might unfold. Two insightful items came across my desk this week, furthering this conversation. One was a story in Friday’s Nice News about “protopias”—a

*I feel a bit torn this July 4th about hope for the future and hopelessness for the future, so this week’s Resilient Wednesday has two versions. One of hope and one of despair.You choose your own. I know which one I believe.* It is a challenging time for America and Americans, but I can’t think