Sing a different song.

Last month I discovered a trick for surviving the stress of an MRI. This one was the longest I’ve ever had and honestly, I was terrified. I remembered that the other times I’d been in that wretched, claustrophobic magnet I’d had moments where the panic nearly took me over. And those ones were about a third of the time.

For this one, however, I discovered that as the beating racket got louder and louder, I could find a tune that matched it. For some reason, Sunday school songs from years ago worked best. Even the ones I’d never liked. When the banging altered, I changed my tune to fit. (I wasn’t singing out loud of course, that would have had the radiographers scratching their heads- is there something else wrong with that woman in there?!)

That approach carried me up until the last five minutes when it was so uncomfortable all I could do was pray and will it to be over. But I was so encouraged that I had found a new way of enduring. I suppose that is what resilience is- changing your tune to work with whatever life throws at you.

People talk about ‘seasons’ as if they are more easy to bear if you put a pretty name to them. I know some of you wouldn’t even describe what you’re going through as winter. It’s much more relentless than that. But I wonder if wherever you are, whatever you are going through, you can find a song, something, to help you bear it.

I told you that approach worked up until the last stretch. Sometimes all we can do is brace ourselves, grit our teeth and hope for a relief.

As older, wiser people say, ‘this too shall pass’. That has annoyed me in the past, but actually, I think they may well be right.