Weeping may stay for a night, but Joy Comes in the Morning. Those words from the Thirtieth Chapter of Psalms, Verse 5, perfectly captures the highs and lows of our lives and careers. There are often tough and difficult times when we do not know how we will make it even through the day. But if we hang on and persevere, we too can survive and have joy in the morning. This three- hour program, including one hour of mental health study, is an optimistic upbeat story of how to manage our lives and even start over if necessary. Sure, there are some difficult times and even losses, and the night can be a long one, but in the end, if we try, most often, we will be all right. This is a completely inter-active discussion of how to make that true in your own life.
I first heard about the title Chapter Two - Resilience when watching an old Neil Simon movie, that was part auto biographical, by the same name. It is the story of someone who was a widower and was trying to start over in the dating scene. Eventually, he meets his future wife, played by the actress Marsha Mason, they get married, separated, and then finally back together. It is a story of starting over, resilience, making mistakes, correcting them, and finally through a combination of faith, luck and perseverance, never completely giving up, there is happiness and reconciliation with life.
That is, in short, exactly what so many of us go through, when faced with adversity. We stick with it and finally triumph in the end. Success, however, is not guaranteed. There is no automatic happy ending. Like the morning program, this afternoon session will be, I hope, an upbeat conversation about a Chapter Two for everyone.