After two months of sheltering in place, many are beginning to partially emerge from COVID-19 imposed cocoons into an unknown future. It is understandable that we exude some anxiety and even despair about what lies ahead as we attempt to rebuild our lives amid the rubble of our economy. In times like these, it is not uncommon for us to be seized and paralyzed by the fear of what could be, even when we don’t exactly know what will be.
In times of challenge and adversity, it is often therapeutic to comparatively weigh what we face against stories of those who have faced the extreme of what challenges us and prevailed. There are stories that scare and stories that motivate. Every now and then you find one that is so powerful and compelling that it grabs you by the throat and just won’t let go. It is both unbelievable and yet believable. It is both alien and yet vaguely familiar. Such is the case with the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the author of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – locked in his body as one is entombed in a diving bell, yet free to wander, dream and travel to faraway places using only his mind.
Bauby was the editor of the French magazine ELLE . He lived a fast paced life amid the glitz and glamour of the world of high fashion. Then one day in 1995 he had a massive stroke that left him completely immobile except for the movement of his left eye. Unfortunately he of an extremely rare condition called Locked-in Syndrome. For those of us who have “suffered” from the two month sequestration of the COVID-19 shelter in place edict, just take a moment to absorb Jean-Dominique’s condition – your mind is perfectly fine, you feel pain, hot and cold, a bead of sweat rolling down your forehead, but the only thing you can move is your left eye. How would you react? Would you be able to turn your condition into something positive?
The therapist assigned to Jean-Domingue devised a means to communicate by organizing the letters of the alphabet by their frequency and reading of each letter. Jean-Domingue would blink once when the correct letter was read that matched the letter in the word he was thinking. In this manner, he would painstakingly spell each word in the sentence he was thinking. Using this method, Jean-Dominique was able to pen his memoir. In it, he tells how he would mentally write, edit and rewrite his sentences before communicating them to his therapist.
“My diving bell becomes less oppressive, and my mind takes flight like a butterfly. There is so much to do. You can wander off in space or in time, set out for Tierra del Fuego or for King Midas’s Court.”
Jean-Dominique’s words speaks volumes about his character and his ability to overcome adversity. They should also inspire those of us who have “suffered” the comparatively minor setback of our two month COVID-19 shut-in. Jean-Dominque had a choice to make: He could either lay there and play the part of a vegetable or accept his situation and try to make something good of it. He chose the latter. Using only his mind, he was free to wander the world, visit with friends or imagine himself in another time. With the blink of an eye, he wrote a book. Jean-Dominque’s courage in the face of such adversity is a reminder to us all of how powerful we truly are. We should not be defeated regardless of the challenge we face. We are winners not wimps. Even if the challenges we face appear to exceed our capacity to overcome them, we will not withdraw, cower or surrender.
Commit to this mantra: In times of doubt, I will remind myself that I am a child of God and that my power cannot be defeated or diminished no matter what obstacle I face. If I begin to feel limited because of adverse circumstances that appear to hold me back, I will remember that even at my most challenged, I remain capable of great things. When I contemplate defeat and despair, I will remember that even at my lowest level of incapacity, I remain capable of great things. I will remember the amazing story of Jean-Dominique Bauby.
The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out and meet it. – Thucydides
Have an AWE-full Weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque