Rebecca Faye Smith Galli is an author and columnist who writes about love, loss, and healing. Surviving significant losses—her seventeen-year-old brother’s death; her son’s degenerative disease and subsequent death; her daughter’s autism; her divorce; and nine days later, her paralysis from transverse myelitis, a rare spinal cord inflammation that began as the flu—has fostered an unexpected but prolific writing career.
The Baltimore Sun published her first column about playing soccer with her son—from the wheelchair. 400 published columns later, she launched Thoughtful Thursdays—Lessons from a Resilient Heart, a weekly column that shares what’s inspired her to stay positive.
Becky Galli was born into a family that valued the power of having a plan. With a pastor father and a stay-at-home mother, her 1960s southern upbringing was bucolic--even enviable. But when her brother, only seventeen, died in a waterskiing accident, the slow unraveling of her perfect family began.
Though grief overwhelmed the family, twenty-year-old Galli forged onward with her life plans–marriage, career, and raising a family of her own–one she hoped would be as idyllic as the family she once knew.
But life did not go according to plan. There was her son’s degenerative, undiagnosed disease and subsequent death; followed by her daughter’s autism diagnosis; her separation; and then, nine days after the divorce was final, the onset of the transverse myelitis that would leave Galli paralyzed from the waist down.
Despite the waves of adversity, Galli maintained her belief in family, in faith, in loving unconditionally, and in learning to not only accept, but also embrace a life that had veered down a path far different from the one she had envisioned. At once heartbreaking and inspiring, Rethinking Possible is a story about the power of love over loss and the choices we all make that shape our lives–especially when forced to confront the unimaginable.
You will be inspired by Becky's interview. Her warmth, her attitude towards life and her encouraging words for all of us as listeners are compelling. When asked if she ever felt hopeless, here is her response:
I don’t think I’ve ever felt hopeless. I have felt limited, separated from others and the world of mobility that they enjoy. I’ve felt sorry for myself that all of these losses have happened to me. I’ve felt angry that I cannot live the life I’ve planned. But despite the pity and anger, I’ve never lost hope. Sometimes I think it hides from me behind a dark cloud of doubt, perhaps. But it’s never gone entirely. In fact, it keeps me going to find what I can hope for. Sometimes that takes a lot of creativity, and trial and error, and reaching out and asking for help, something that is not (was not) natural for me given my independent nature. I’ve had to learn that others LIKE to help. That it’s ok to ask for it.
Here is her interview. You will be encouraged:
Go Where You Are Celebrated - Not Where You Are Tolerated
You Are Greater Than Your Circumstances - Dr. Tommy Shavers
He Never Let Her Go
Build People Up Instead of Tearing Them Down
Teacher Tips for Parents
Accept your Past but Do Not Let it Define Who You Are
If You've Been Through It - Then Get To It
James, producer of TV series, survived Leukemia and has 19 children
You Can Rise Above Rejection and Abuse
We Always Have a Choice in How We React
If You Can Think It - You Can Achieve It
Are You Digging Your Grave with a Fork?
No One Should Have To Die Alone
How to reprogram your Brain to Better Deal with Stress
Determinaton will keep you focused
Learning to laugh when you feel like crying
Never Accept Trash Talk
Murder, Drugs, Death of Spouse
A Policeman's Advice on How to Deal with Stress
The Secret to Life is to Live It
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