Opinion | How to Keep Going Amid the Chaos

When we find ourselves in the thick of disorder, uncertainty or loss, resilience can seem impossible, even trite, to hope for.At the end of September, Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on my community in western North Carolina.Businesses, homes and more than 100 lives were lost.

Schools were closed for a month.There was no running water for nearly three weeks, and safe drinking water took far longer to come back.

And yet, from Day 1, the community rallied.People were out with chain saws clearing roads; neighbors shared water, food and power sources; porches, backyards and storefronts turned into mini-congregations for daily gatherings and social support.

Rebuilding will be a long and arduous process, but it is already underway.Just over a month after the hurricane hit, Donald Trump was elected again as president.For many, myself included, considering the character of this new administration and its promises, despair has been a constant temptation.In both North Carolina and on the national scene, it can feel like we are stymied in growth, in hope, in vigor.

But every path of progress — both individual and collective — includes failures and downturns, even periods of hopelessness.In the immediate aftermath of disappointment and disorder, it is understandable to freeze or shut down.

But eventually, we’ve got to rise up and move forward — if for no other reason than the alternative is worse.Finding meaning and maintaining hope despite inevitable pain, loss and suffering is a crucial life skill.In 1949, the Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl coined the term “tragic optimism” to describe this conundrum.Tragic optimism emerged out of what Dr.

Frankl observed to be the three tragedies that everyone faces (not only those of us who have seen the worst of the world, as he had).The first tragedy is pain, because we are made of flesh and bone.

The second is guilt, because we have the freedom to make choices and thus feel responsible when things don...