We are once again honored to interview Dr. Alice B. Kornblith, PhD about her plans for a new book and why caregivers’ stories need to be heard.

Everywhere you turn people are grappling with fears both real and imagined. There are no easy answers but amid such fraught times we have to find ways to continually challenge our fears. Nancy suggests three simple things to try.

With all the disruption and upheaval in our lives, it’s been a real struggle to feel joyful about welcoming the happy moments this month typically brings. Everyone Nancy knows seems to be riding this rollercoaster: fearful and anxious one day, grateful and calm the next. This is to be expected in the throes of such global uncertainty. Nancy was in a real funk at the start of the month, and a bit conflicted at having to be the face of resilience when she felt anything but resilient. But then two things happened that shifted her perspective.

Nancy shares a strategy passed on to her from a friend in recovery, of how to pause to take care of ourselves—body, spirit and mind. When we tend to our needs, we have so much more to give to others.

After being a caregiver for her husband during his nearly 7-year battle with brain cancer, there’s one thing that Nancy’s learned, It’s to rely on cautious optimism and find ways to adapt and find joy in the face of uncertainty and social isolation.

This is the first in a series of new columns about resilience, an area Nancy Sharp is passionate about and grew to be an expert in precisely because of her experience as a longtime cancer caregiver. She'll share her philosophy on resilience with you.

How do you begin — how does anyone begin — to communicate in the face of certain and impending death? Do we have to? Did my dad want to? At the time, we all struggled with what to say to him, and everyone else struggled with what to say to us. But now, eight years after his passing, I finally understand that those “right words” that we were all searching for — they simply don’t exist. In fact, there are exactly zero words in the English language (or any language) that cure cancer, solve complex mental health issues, or bring people back from the dead.