The TED Talks Daily podcast titled “How to Find Creativity and Purpose in the Face of Adversity” features Suleika Jaouad, the author of an Emmy Award-winning column in the New York Times, “Life, Interrupted,” and the memoir Between Two Kingdoms. The works chronicled her journey with leukemia and her recovery.
Her story impressed me. Jaouad first confronted leukemia in her early 20s when she had plans to become a journalist, a foreign correspondent specifically. Her plans were put on hold because of her illness. She began to write about her experiences from the con – fines of her hospital room and realized that she had become a foreign correspondent. She was reporting from a foreign location and a situation few had traveled.
She spoke candidly about her leukemia relapse in terms of moving past the grief and fear and feeling comfortable with having no plans. Her life was again on hold because of the illness. She couldn’t do the activities she wanted. Instead, she surrendered to her limitations and pivoted to things she could do. Her circumstances filled her with a lack of control and led to a belief that “survival is its own kind of creative act.”
While her story is rich with messages about life, struggling with illness, and finding one’s creativity even under the direst of circumstances, the idea of being a foreign correspondent in one’s life is an insightful concept.
We all have unique aspects of our lives to share; we all live and travel in different spaces. Being a foreign correspondent in one’s life empowers and inspires one to share experiences with others and provides a window into another’s life.
As we share our personal experiences and learn about each other, these experiences become less foreign and more relatable. One begins to appreciate where others are coming from and what their journey has required. As we absorb this, we learn how to apply the lessons and perspectives of others’ journeys to help us navigate our own lives. While not all of us experience a battle with leukemia, we all have a story to tell from the frontline of our own lives