Berwick Thought for the Week: Are you a survivor or a victim?

It’s a common ailment, the nagging sense that something is about to go wrong. Perhaps you’re familiar with it.

I once knew a social worker specialising in handling horrible cases, where children had to be rescued from abusive parents. His job was to try and set the children up in safer situations with new foster-parents and long-term care.

‘You never know how it’s going to turn out’, he said. ‘Some children have the will to survive, whilst others see themselves as victims who deserve everything that’s happened.’

You can guess who coped best.

Sports coaches know that having a positive mental attitude strengthens us against difficulty and trauma, but if we constantly believe (like Noel Coward) that ‘Bad Times Are Just Around the Corner’, that can seriously affect our mental outlook and even our health.

But is being positive realistic?

My recent (life-limiting) leukaemia diagnosis did a lot to concentrate the mind when I suddenly faced a year of chemotherapy. After the first few weeks of treatment, there’s still a lot of uncertainty to handle and plenty of questions – but strangely, I feel all right in myself.

Why? Because over the years, my Christian faith has already provided lots of space to exercise the big questions, their possible answers, and given me a conviction that all will be well whatever happens, whether I get to a point of remission or not.

How? Because I know I’m already part of a greater story, God’s story, and whatever happens, ‘I’ will still go on, with God. That’s how it’s worked for me, so far, anyway. See you on the other side… hopefully!

Chris Hudson is a Licenced Reader in the Benefice of Scremerson, Spittal and Tweedmouth, host of Holy Island’s ‘Lindisfarne Tales’ walking tour, an ex-primary school teacher and teacher-trainer, and author of over 20 books for teachers and pupils.