Doing the Thing You Think You Cannot Do: How to Prepare for all of the Unforeseen, Unexpected, and Inevitable Events That Life Can Throw at Us!

This is a book about coping with life events before the event occurs, and we are unable to cope at all. It’s a book of answers to the gut-wrenching question, “What the hell am I going to do now?” The tricky part to life events is that the event often requires us to make informed decisions at a time when we are emotionally incapable of doing so. Yet make decisions we must, and without some kind of planning or preparation, we often make them with disastrous results. The focus of this book is on life event planning: the three simple steps we can take to prepare for, and then successfully cope with, the events that make up our lives. Everything from the unforeseen, like divorce, loss of a job, or terminal illness, to the inevitable, like death and, for most of us, taxes. You will learn how to do the things that can be done in advance so that the emotional part of a life event doesn’t cloud your judgment or render you incapable of action. Because certain life events, no matter how unexpected, unsettling, or painful, carry with them certain common activities that can be done in advance. And it’s much easier to do these things in good times than in bad. This book goes far beyond the usual “estate planning seminar” approach to life event planning to address the emotional aspect of planning for whatever life might throw at us. Because it’s far easier to think about the unthinkable when our minds are clear and our hearts are not yet touched by pain, grief, or loss. The exercises you’ll complete as you work through this book are designed to help you know how to make the lemonade long before life serves up the lemons!