When you put the pieces back together make the vessel stronger

“The work of healing is like finding, sorting, and putting together the pieces of an ancient pot. The work is often tedious, and some of the slivers may be sharp and dangerous. The result, if you are patient, is a beautiful object, elegant in form and function, and elegant in the tales it tells of its creation. If put together carefully, it will also be watertight and can be filled up with good things.”
Richard A. Moskovitz: Lost in the Mirror

W Mitchell, author of the book It’s Not What Happens to You It’s What You Do About It, had his face and hands burned off in a fire after his motorcycle was run over by a truck. After years of painful rehabilitation he built a new life, moved to Colorado, started a business, ran for mayor of his small town (campaign slogan: not just another pretty face), and bought an airplane with special controls that he could fly without use of hands. One day his plane crashed on take-off; his back was broken and he was paralyzed. And you think you’ve had some bad days!

Mitchell is often asked whether, if he could go back and undo those two accidents and have his body restored but be the person he would have been had the accidents not happened, would he do it? His answer is always an unequivocal No. It’s the answer you almost always hear from people who have endured terrible adversity and emerged stronger as a result. Like the broken ceramic pot described by Moskovitz, the glued together parts are perhaps not as physically attractive as the original, but the rebuilt pot is more beautiful at a deeper level, and is stronger and more functional.

If your world has turned upside down, imagine yourself as a pot that fell from the shelf and was broken. What are the pieces that need to be reassembled? Your self-esteem? Your pride? Your balance sheet? Your career? Your relationships? As you reassemble this pot, how can you make sure that the inevitable scar tissue makes you stronger and protects you from future blows without making you brittle and insensitive?