“After a fall such as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!”

Alice is brave. And so are you. With everything that has taken place in your life of late, you have often felt overwhelmed, challenged and uncertain of whether you could cope with very much more. But you have shown great courage, and perhaps even more wonderfully, you’ve developed so much resilience. Because of the extreme nature of the events and experiences you have been working with, you will now be able to deal with all manner of circumstances with great calm and stoicism. And this is no small thing!

Being challenged in quite radical ways can see some people retreat entirely from life. But you, like Alice, can see one of the aspects of working through adversity is realizing just how much you can do. You have been stretched, pushed and gone right to the very edges of what you know about yourself – and you have come to know yourself far better, far more deeply, than if you had not had these great and sometimes rather terrible adventures.

Most of all, please know these truths: You are strong, you are brave, you are resilient. You have been dignified, graceful, and remained curious under the greatest sorts of pressures. This has been, in many ways, your finest hour. And you will be able to set an amazing example when life returns to something just a little closer to what most people call normal!

You have been tested. The development of strength and resilience through courageous meetings of challenges. The demonstration of great character. The acknowledgement of how much you have learned. The ability to cope with so many little things, due to a great ordeal endured with grace, dignity and humor. Testing times shows true character.

~ the Alice Wonderland oracle by Lucy Cavendish