Wellness in the Midst of Adversity and Tragedy.

This article addresses the strategies that 1 African American counselor educator uses to maintain a sense of wellness and balance in her life by focusing on religion and spirituality, physical fitness, family life, multitasking, cultural heritage, and personal time. ********** It is ironic that I would sit down to prepare a manuscript about wellness during the midst of the horrendous loss of 33 Virginia Tech students and faculty on Monday, April 16, 2007, as I grapple with personal feelings of dread, confusion, and sadness. And even though I weep in an office more than 200 miles away from the main campus at one of Virginia Tech's satellite sites, vacillating between grief and disbelief, I cannot distance myself from this horrific tragedy because I am haunted by thoughts that my own emotions pale in comparison to the families for whom this violent rampage has left an irreplaceable void. I feel a certain queasiness as I come to the inevitable realization that this incident could have occurred on any campus, including mine, that the frequency with which arbitrary and capricious acts of violence have occurred within the recent past (e.g., Columbine High School, 9/11, the sniper attacks) have undermined our collective sense of safety and security, and, to add to this conundrum, conventional forms of power and privilege seem to no longer provide a protective aegis for society. As this feeling of uneasiness encroaches upon my entire body, I am reminded that wellness is not relegated solely to times of contentment but must be accessed and reinvested, like bank dividends, during times of great need. We have no recourse but to mine our reservoirs of wellness, even in the midst of great tragedy. The seemingly impossible juxtaposition of two diametrically opposed states (wellness amidst tragedy and adversity) will likely lead to the journey toward healing and wholeness. It is in this vein that I try to identify my personal efforts to maintain wellness, which include but are not limited to religion and spirituality, physical fitness, family life, multitasking, cultural heritage, and personal time. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY For me, religion and spirituality function as important sources of wellness that help me grapple with the vicissitudes of life. Although I was raised in a Christian household wherein my parents expected us to adhere to the Golden Rule (e.g., doing unto others as you would have them to do unto you), provide service to the church and community, respect others, exhibit humility, and maintain a posture of thankfulness for God's blessings, religion took on an even deeper meaning for me during adulthood. Despite my Christian indoctrination, I abashedly admit that, as a youngster, I regarded religion as a set of rituals reserved for fervent believers who relied more heavily on faith than on exercising a sense of personal agency. My personal challenges and crises have taught me that faith, insofar as it is a personal relationship with God, and personal agency are not mutually exclusive concepts but operate in tandem. That is, faith in God contributes to a sense of personal agency and does not supplant personal agency. Shortly after my husband and I became more involved in the church, we were asked to facilitate a church program. As the mistress of ceremonies, I shared with the congregation the sense of peace and calm I had experienced since I had come to know God more intimately. I reflected on the fact that traditionally, throughout our courtship and marriage, we had celebrated New Year's Eve in nightclubs and at parties. I confided that I remembered that as we stood on the dance floor during the interlude of cheers and "Auld Lang Syne," I would usually join in the revelry and experience a sense of ambivalence somewhere along the continuum between uncertainty and enthusiasm, harboring concerns about what the New Year held in store. The defining moment in my spiritual journey came when we started attending Watch Night services, a long-standing tradition within the African American church wherein the congregation attends church on New Year's Eve. …