Author: draganadauthor

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Life’s journey is short, fast, and one way -forward!

In all things we strive to achieve, we need courage. Perseverance is the art of calling upon our courage every day until we find the landing where we can embark upon our personal journey.   Although we,  humans, have similar basic needs in life like food, shelter, love, kindness, and a need for relationships, in many other ways we are unique.  Drawing from experience, I find the most unique thing about each of us is the path we take to get to our journey and the path we take while on our journey.

Some paths, good or bad, are predetermined for us while we are young; a time when we are obliged to be on our parent’s journey, willingly, because there are no choices when you are a child – adults are in charge of our every path.  Not all parents are skilled at determining which paths are rewarding, it is a struggle.  Some parents hide the struggle better than others.  Sometimes it is a friendly struggle and other times it is a troubling struggle to decide what paths will lead us to a peaceful journey.  No matter what we encountered on our parent’s journey it is obligatory that we constantly call upon our courage to do what is necessary to ensure that we have a fulfilling journey.  There are no do-overs in life, the journey is short, fast,  and one way –forward!

I send you courage, and I would also like to know what gives YOU courage. Please share with me in the comments. Nothing lifts the spirit and feeds the soul like courage, this I know for sure.

 

 

 

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We are ready to embark upon a life’s journey with perseverance as our guide.

Perseverance of Yesterday’s Women is now available, you may order it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Hurry, pick up a copy and join me on this journey, you might find that we had the same guide called perseverance.   The story will take you through all of life’s stages from childhood to wisdom.  You will experience with me love, loss, betrayal, despair, recovery, strength, joy,  and power;  in the end, perseverance prevails, chaos succumbs to order.

Write to me while you are reading the story or after you have finished.  Let me know if my experience and ideas helped you or a friend in any way.

I send you courage,  Dragana

perseverance plaque.jpg

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The Journey Begins

In anticipation of my new book, Perseverance of Yesterday’s Women, I thought it might be nice to share with my readers the inspiration behind Perseverance of Yesterday’s Women and what it means to be able to write a book such as this.

On October 23, 2016, I  reached that stage, shall we call it that wisdom stage. Erik Erikson, (1902-1994) a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychosocial development, believed 8 stages of development unfold as we go through the lifespan and that each stage consists of a unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a change that must be faced, so in that scheme I realized I was in the 7th stage and well on my way to the 8th stage.

The task and choice in Stage 7 was Generativity vs. Stagnation. Mercy, that choice was daunting to think about. I wasn’t sure about Generativity, but I knew Stagnation was not good – I pictured a rocking chair and a condo too warm for anyone to visit for too long. Looking into Generativity I realized this is the route I would have to take to outrun stagnation.

A sense of urgency seeped into my soul and the book began to form.

I set out to learn what I would have to do to live up to Generativity and positively exit stage 7… according to Erikson my chief concern in this stage was to assist the younger generation in developing and leading useful lives.

As I began to examine my life I realized I was good to go towards the next and final stage 8,  Integrity vs. Despair. This stage involves reflecting on the past either piecing together a positive review or concluding that one’s life has not been well spent. Hmm,  Stage 8 sounded a bit scarier. At first, I worried about this piecing together step…my life was full of challenges, loss, despair, accomplishment, gains, and joy all so scrambled that I wasn’t sure I could make that assessment.

After much toiling I realized I was right,  it was worse, and that I could not assess my life without beginning my examination of my life from its beginning. The more I began to reflect on my life’s events it became apparent that my life’s journey was like a child crawling, walking, running, scrambling, falling and rising all at an alarming pace;  pain mixed with joy, betrayal mixed with love and loyalty, achievement mixed with failure…thank goodness for Erikson’s stages.

Perseverance prevailed; with each stage, a chapter was born.

I began what was initially a painful process, then an anxious process, a challenging process, and suddenly when I came to Stage 8, I was able to separate joy and achievements from pain and betrayals. I was able to recognize the good and kind, from evil and destructive people.

Join me on this adventure, sort your stages.  It is possible to go back and fulfill the needs of the stages you missed; it will strengthen you, it might even delight you.

Stay tuned for more information and an official release date for my book, Perseverance of Yesterday’sWomen.

By Dragana Djurdjev

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Introduction To Dragana

I was inspired to write my story by observing many women I met during my career, travels, and by conversations with my peers who were struggling with the aftermath of abuse, neglect, and betrayal.  I was particularly inspired by the women I met while doing my community service as Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected women.  As I listened to some of my peers, and as I examined my own life I realized I wasn’t much better off emotionally then the women in the Guardian ad Litem program, I just wasn’t in the program.   With this realization a sense of urgency came over me to fix my life; as I began to fix my life I gained an urgency to share my wealth of information with my fellow strugglers who are trying to reclaim their journey.    

I wrote, Perseverance of Yesterday’s Women, to give support and encouragement to those who unwillingly relinquished their talents and life’s journey to someone else.  To those who see themselves in my story, I send ideas and encouragement and perhaps the sense of urgency for you to call upon your courage, create a plan and reclaim your journey through life on your own terms.

I remind my readers that there are no do-overs in life;  it is obligatory to seek joy while living it

Dragana