Meet Dr. Erica Pooler

We recently connected with Dr. Erica Pooler and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Erica, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. It’s the mental toughness that I have learned to put mind over matter.
I learned to be resilient because of many tough and uncontrollable situations. I was born to a young mother addicted to drugs and men that were no good for her and to a father who spent most my childhood in prison. Upon his return to society, he made little to no efforts to get to know me as his daughter. Due to my parents’ circumstances, I was often alone and neglected. I suffered abuse and molestation and was eventually placed into foster care. Even into adulthood, I have experienced loss and love beyond imagination. From losing my first-born son to a love that I thought was forever. Betrayal and Abandonment continues to stagger me. My ability to be resilient did not feel optional. I believe life left me no option but to learn to be self-reliant and independent. I have learned to not make excuses to fail and use my circumstances as a reason to succeed. My past and childhood traumas caused a lack of worth, abandonment and feelings of being alone.
I have gained the strength of resilience in the face of incredibly challenging circumstances. It’s clear that you’ve developed a remarkable capacity to withstand and recover from adversity, and your determination to succeed despite the obstacles I have faced.
Resilience has resulted from my need to adapt and overcome difficult situations.
Growing up in a challenging environment with neglect and abuse forced me to become self-reliant and independent. It has shaped who I am as a person and developed an inner strength that would not allow my circumstances to define my future and instead used them as a motivation to succeed.
My life serves as a reminder that resilience is not just about enduring hardships but also about using those experiences to fuel my personal growth and achievement. My ability overcome such significant challenges and strive for success is an example of resilience in action. If I have breath in my body I will refuse to quit no matter how hard it is to get back up when I fall.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Education, know your craft, be the best in your field of study Work on your long and short term goals personally, professionally, and financially
Hold yourself accountable for your progress or get an accountability partner/coach
Speak positivity over your life, your day, your family
Forgive, even those that never asked and also those that you don’t feel deserve it
Find the mental space to work through you past (meditation, therapy, hypnosis, affirmation and so on)
Give gratitude, no matter how bad it seems there are others that have it so much worse.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The book that has played an important role in my life is entitled, “The Cards of Life; When all hope is gone, Trust and believe”

It basically talks about life being like a deck of cards and you never know the hand you will get, or any control of the trial that will come with your hand. But it is up to you to play the game to the best of your ability and never quit. You must trust the process while on your journey and believe that what you want to accomplish can manifest. Finally, forgive and move forward, this is often the hardest thing to do but so necessary to not stay stuck or become bitter about the past. Accept your hand and play it to the best of your ability.

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Image Credits
Photo cred (pics with twists) Kia and Joshua Whittenburg Photo cred with curly hair – Anna Valentine

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