Women Respond to Life's Shakeups

It’s a scary time to be sure, but here’s my Pollyanna thought for the day: If anybody can weather a crisis and make something good come out of it, it’s women. We’re great at dealing with change, even if we don’t always feel like we are. We’re gifted at wrapping our heads around tough situations and finding ways to do things differently. Or to do different things. We adapt. We improvise. And we get out there.

Tough times and personal upheaval prompted many of the shakeup stories in The List.

Divorce led to seven shakeups: Make Over a Room, Conquer a Fear, Strip, Switch Careers/Go Back to School, Shoot a Gun, Audition for Something Nerve-Racking and Join the Peace Corps.

Death played a role in nine of them: Start a Charity, Learn an Exotic Dance, Join a Cattle Drive, Play Ice Hockey, Catch a Big Fish, Swim with Sea Creatures, Get a Pilot’s License, and Organize a Rally.

And Hurricane Katrina was behind Find Religion and Join a Relief Effort.

Here’s what makes women so good at handling life’s big shakeups:
• We take risks
• We can’t help but take charge
• We’re flexible
• We think fast
• We’re master multi-taskers
• We embrace challenge
• We’re resourceful
• We’ve got perspective

And we reach out to each other for friendship, advice, a crying shoulder, and a big glass of wine.