Shaka Senghor gave three ingredients towards being resilient.

They are optimism, being resourceful, and memory loss.

Optimism is defined as "the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen" by the Cambridge English Dictionary.

If I apply this to GERD, optimism would look like focusing on progress, practicing gratitude and being mindful.

Being resourceful is utilizing the internet to educate myself about the DOs and DONTs, finding a support group, using tools to help better manage stress, working with healthcare professionals for a treatment plan.

I especially like the idea of memory loss.

I find I'm most unhappy when I replay my pre-GERD life, believing life used to be better before, and it holds me hostage. It feels like a nightmare that I'm still waiting to be woken out of.

If acceptance is the precursor to use suffering to get stronger, perhaps the precursor to acceptance is forgetting.

I need to stop reliving the past, and move on. Focus on the now. There is still good happening now. My past does not define my future.