Candid Conversations Newsletter: The Paradox of Rebuilding

Change and Adaptation 🪸

They say the only constant in life is change. But what happens when the change is sudden and its magnitude feels unfathomable? To say it takes will to survive, to pick up the pieces, to continue, is daunting and insurmountable. It barely begins to give it language. The task of rebuilding becomes its own mountain. Its own dark cave.

Over the years, I’ve been trained to adapt by assessing the situation and its impact. I look at downstream and upstream implications, asking who or what else will feel the ripple. I identify the controls I can put in place, then adjust to whatever becomes the new normal. Business as usual.

That kind of response becomes instinctive after years of tabletop exercises, threat modeling, and simulations. It is straightforward when change is communicated early and regularly, when systems are in place, and when the right people are already positioned to respond. Disaster preparedness. Recovery planning. Business continuity.

But how does that translate to everyday life? How do people without structured resilience training interpret sudden disruption?

The Journey of a Thousand Miles 🛣️

For me, that journey began with a simple goal: improve on my yesterday. I didn’t have the language at the time, but I held onto that one truth. Controlling my controllable, changing what I had power over, which was myself. And as my sixth-grade teacher used to say, don’t go in like a dumpling and come out like a dumpling.

Over time, I developed a new way of seeing the world. I found added perspective by being open enough to explore beyond my own understanding.

Stoicism and the writings of Albert Camus offered clarity. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus describes a man condemned to push a boulder uphill forever. Each time he reaches the top, it rolls down again. And every time, he walks back to the stone, places his hands on it, and begins again.

The crux is this: Camus imagines him smiling.

Same situation. Different posture.

Let’s pause for a bit and let that simmer.

There is meaning in rebuilding. In picking up the pieces, reassessing, and redefining. Things may not have unfolded as planned, but rebuilding opens the door to creating something new, something different.

The Importance of Philosophy 👨🏽‍🏫

Philosophy becomes real in the moments when life shatters your expectations and demands a response anyway. In those moments, rebuilding is not weakness. It is awareness. It is acceptance without surrender. Not defeat, but realignment.

Rebuilding forces you to examine what was, what remains, and what is still possible. It invites you to reimagine your foundation, to see the landscape differently, to accept that some pieces fell away because they were never meant to bear that weight.

Adaptation is not just survival. It is authorship. It is choosing to shape the next chapter even if the story shifted without your permission.

If Absurdism is the paint, then Stoicism is the brush.

Absurdism names the chaos.

Stoicism steadies the hand.

Between discipline and imagination, you rebuild with intention.

Life will hand you moments that feel random, unfair, or heavy. But the brush is still in your hand. The paint is still wet. The canvas is still yours.

You choose the stroke.

You choose the texture.

You choose how the next chapter bends.

Resilience, What Does It Mean? 💪🏽

I am no stranger to change, nor am I timid about starting over. And I have the scars to show. Whether it was moving to a new country for an opportunity, moving back because opportunity ran out, navigating a change in status, or holding a relationship that shifted under the weight of life’s nuances. I have lived enough transitions to know their weight.

I see new beginnings as opportunities, moments where experience, creativity, and perspective converge. Now I get to strengthen the beams and straighten the edges that once lacked definition.

Part of rebuilding is recognizing past design flaws. Most were formed when we lacked the tools, language, awareness, or emotional maturity we have now. That is growth. Lessons learned. A personal root cause analysis.

What did failure teach us? What did the breaking reveal? And more importantly, how do we keep the same patterns from repeating? In other words, how has our posture matured?

We mature by adding guardrails. By implementing controls that guide us toward better choices, healthier relationships, and more stable outcomes. By setting boundaries that align with who we are becoming, not who we used to be.

Not everyone gets the chance to start over. And for those who do, it is not a setback. It is a realignment. A quiet vision of rebuilding with clearer eyes and steadier hands.

Faith, or Fate, for the Love of Both 🪯

Amor Fati.

Camus asks us to imagine Sisyphus happy, not because the task is light, but because he chooses to meet the weight with clarity. Stoicism gives that clarity somewhere to rest. Together, they whisper a simple truth:

Love your fate. Not because it is perfect, but because it is yours.

A Gift From the Stoics🪷

Amor fati invites you to embrace change not as punishment, but as possibility. It asks you to accept the stone, the hill, the journey, and the return. To meet life with steady eyes and open hands, trusting that meaning is found not in the outcome but in the posture you hold while walking through it.

To love your fate is to love the possibilities.

To love your becoming is to meet each moment, even the difficult ones, with willingness.

And that willingness becomes a new kind of freedom.

To believe in what can be…

A Call to Action 🗣️🔊🔊

For the past two editions, Hurricane Melissa has been at the center of our conversations. I have used this platform to highlight the devastating impact it has had on our beloved country, the rising death toll, the shattered communities, and the scale of destruction that will take years to rebuild.

And rebuild we will.
But not without help.

When the waters recede and the headlines shift, the real work begins.
Not just the rebuilding of houses and infrastructure, but the rebuilding of spirit.
The restoring of dignity.
The quiet reassurance that you are not alone.

Our country is hurting.
And pain this deep requires all of us.

If you can give, please give.
If all you can do is share, share widely.
And if you can do neither, hold a thought, whisper a prayer, or offer a moment of grace for those who lost everything and still carry the will to rise.

Rebuilding a nation is a collective act of love.

🫵🏽👉🏽Support Jamaica’s Recovery