CHAPTER SEVEN CARRYING WHAT CANNOT BE FIXED
The Club No One Wished to Join
43. Build your own “kitchen cabinet.”
45. Change your environment, change your life.
WIT Kit Tools for Carrying What Cannot Be Fixed
CHAPTER EIGHT FACING NAYSAYERS
48. Listen to your beliefs, not your doubts.
50. Refuse to be imprisoned by your past.
WIT Kit Tools for Facing Naysayers
CHAPTER NINE REBOUNDING FROM MISTAKES, MISERY, AND MAYHEM
51. Understand that success often comes disguised as a dumb idea.
WIT Kit Tools for Rebounding from Mistakes, Misery, and Mayhem
CHAPTER TEN DESIGNING YOUR LIFE
WIT Kit Tools for Designing Your Life
CHAPTER ELEVEN LIGHT A CANDLE IN THE DARK
58. Shine a light, don't curse the dark.
60. Apply these lessons learned.
WIT Kit Tools for Lighting a Candle in the Dark
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It takes a village for a woman to pick herself up, dust herself off, and rise. We are indebted to the village of women who shared their stories with us. Their contributions have made for a good book. More important, they have enriched our lives in ways that will stay with us forever.
Our families give us meaning in so many ways that to go into detail would require that we write another book! To our children, Aaron and Lily Stephens; Christopher, Austin, and Dillon Risley; Jackson and Stephanie Sierra; Jaclyn, Jenna (Robinson), and J. B. Zimmerman; Meredith (Flynn) and Christopher Eves—thank you for being the loves of our lives!
To Greg Brandenburgh, our editor at Conari Press, thank you for your support and sense of humor. If the publishing doesn't work out, we're convinced that stand-up comedy can become your next act!
Finally, John Grimes (www.grimescartoons.com), the funniest man we know, you read every word of our manuscript and delivered illustrations that make women laugh every time!
INTRODUCTION TO THE
SECOND EDITION: HOPE REMAINS A STRATEGY (ALWAYS)
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. It is necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from.
MAYA ANGELOU, AMERICAN POET (1928–2014)
What started around a kitchen table with nothing more than the goal of re-inventing ourselves has resulted in a community of women who still contact us with their stories. We thank you. We feel privileged to write a book that gives hope, inspiration, encouragement, and lessons for all women—anywhere, anytime, at any age. Hope remains a strategy—always.
This edition enters a world that feels like a runaway train and, on many days, a complete train wreck! In 2008, our paperback edition came roaring into a world where headlines screamed that we had entered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Truly, it was a time that few of us saw coming and none of us ordered. Yet, survive we did.
We wrote this book because of the great upheaval and discord in the world. The polarization in our communities adds to the anxiety that far too many women face on a daily basis. We believe that each time a woman rises in the midst of difficult circumstances, our world heals. This book is our contribution to that healing.
WHAT'S NEW?
Promise me you will not spend so much time treading
