We were lucky to catch up with Ellen Schneider recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ellen, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from a number of sources but most notably the lessons and example of my parents. Growing up, my parents always encouraged a discipline of practice and persistence in the face of challenges. Try, try, and try again as well as practice makes progress are refrains in the bedrock of my brain. In particular, my mom always emphasized that as a girl and a learning-disabled kid with health issues that I would have to work twice as hard to get half as far in anything. But she consistently stressed that I wasn’t going to be alone in the effort because I always have the love of God as well as the love of my family, and that love was miraculous because love transcends time and space no matter what. They also emphasized that family can be as big as you want it to be with the people you choose who choose you back. My mom, dad, and big brother always chose to do their best to be there for our family every day and that emotional security made a big difference when we faced challenges. Now that I’m an adult with a husband and child, I’m especially grateful for this foundation as I strive to be a good role model for my son and an effective partner in my marriage.
Ultimately, my faith in Christ and my habitual determination have sustained me through every difficulty. Persevere is my favorite word. No matter how many times people have counted me out or that negative inner whisper of doubt has argued that I will never make it, I remind myself how far I’ve come. Even amidst mental health struggles with depression and anxiety, I found reasons for hope in the beauty of flowers growing in bits of rock, the waves of the Great Lakes, and the beloved people in my life. I have dyscalculia and I earned two biology degrees. I worked hard, asked questions, sought help from tutors and visited office hours to make sure that I learned what I needed to succeed. The friends I made, the clubs I joined, and the research I was part of all changed my life for the better. I have never stopped writing, even amidst busy school deadlines and worse than that, when multiple sclerosis (MS) compromised my hands. I adapted to using fountain pen ink so I wouldn’t have to press as hard on the page. I discovered that transcribing my handwritten work helped me improve my stories even though it took me longer. Even when MS hindered my vision, I have persisted in taking photos with my digital SLR camera. Poring over the photos to edit them also helped me cope with the changes caused by double vision. With the help of my loving teammates and supporters, my Walk MS team, Nerds for a Cure, raised thousands of dollars for the National MS Society over the last ten years. Even though I have taken a fundraising sabbatical this year, I know that our Nerds for A Cure team will come back stronger than ever in the future. No matter what anyone says or what difficulties arise, I have faith and hope that God will help me keep going to be part of His loving will in the world.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My fiction writing under my pseudonym, E.A. Lawrence, has been a lifelong passion and I treat it as a second job. I have worked my whole life to support my writing ambitions and I’m excited about how far I’ve come as well as the horizon I’m heading towards. I’ve sold four short stories so far and I’m almost done with the first draft of my first novel. My goal is to finish a draft so my favorite beta reader, my husband, can read it over the winter holidays. Working with the team at AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop has been a revelation. My confidence and skills have blossomed with the support of fantastic teachers like Michael Giorgio and Carrie Newberry under the incredible direction of Kathie Giorgio. The support of a community of writers has been helpful for learning and growing as an artist.
Technicolor Lily Pond, my longtime blog, has been my haven of creativity and hope; it has become my brand and I love going by the moniker TechnoPondDweller on social media. Given my science background with aquatic and semi-aquatic vertebrates coupled with my Great Lakes childhood, ponds, lakes, and wetlands are a happy home base for me. I’ve spent a lot of time in and around water so being the TechnoPondDweller feels natural. Writing my blog has helped me cultivate my voice, nurture my artistic sensibility, and challenge myself to keep growing. It is a deliberately eclectic place. At my pond, I share my efforts as a nature photographer, my reading adventures, my E.A. Lawrence fiction writing progress, my experiments in the garden and kitchen, movie and TV thoughts, as well as my crafting endeavors. When I was diagnosed with MS, the blog became an escape from the disease as well as a place to rally support for my fundraising efforts for a cure through the National MS Society. At Technicolor Lily Pond I have done my best to show by example that creative challenges can be met with perseverance and humor even with complications like MS, depression, and adulting. I’ve cultivated a distinct readership for all of these creative pursuits. Recently, I’ve branched out to a BuyMeACoffee page as well as resurrecting my Zazzle page to share more of my photos while generating financial support to expand my Technicolor Lily Pond blog plan. I’m so grateful that my pond readers and supporters are part of my creative landscape.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Curiosity has been a persistent superpower in my life. I have always been the kid with the book because I read whenever I possibly can. Being a lifelong learner who asks lots of questions and seeks out the answers from credible sources has helped me out in every area of my life. As the child of librarians, I’ve been richly blessed because I learned young how to use library resources to study and look for answers. Other skills I recommend cultivating are kindness and courage. Most people won’t remember facts or figures that you tell them but they will remember how you treated them and how you made them feel. Being happy to help others, authentic, and sincere in one’s manners make the world a better place. No matter what journey or goals you’re pursuing, being curious, kind, and courageous no matter how scared you feel inside will take you far. Start by getting a library card, reading diverse works, asking questions, and truly listening to the answers. Saying please and thank you with a smile from the heart also makes every day a little bit better.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I have a go-to list when I feel overwhelmed. I breathe. I pray. I stretch or, if I can, I take a walk to go look at a green, growing part of creation like a pond, tree, or a potted plant. I drink water or tea. I learn something new. My mom always said ‘when sad or blue, learn something new,” and it really works, especially if it relates to the natural world or new scientific discoveries. It also helps me to visualize the metamorphosis of frogs and butterflies. Transformation feels like an apocalyptic crisis but God is with the tadpole whose limbs are erupting and the goo of the chrysalis when a caterpillar melts into a butterfly. I’ve often felt like a tadpole with one leg out and too much tail wobbling awkwardly along. At worst, I’ve felt like melting, shapeless goo. No matter how rough I feel, it’s nice to remember that I’m not done growing yet but am still morphing. Another strategy of mine is to try to help somebody else. It’s hard to feel too overwhelmed and incapable if you help a friend or coworker or family member or another person, even to do something small. My final big strategy when I’m overwhelmed is to remind myself of the facts about how many different hats I wear in my life as a spouse, parent, child, sibling, friend, writer, scientist, and creative artist. Whichever hat is overwhelming me, I remember that it is not the only thing that defines me and I can persevere with God’s love.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://technicolorlilypond.blog/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/technoponddweller?igsh=MWZsdTJ0cW1saGFx
- Other: https://buymeacoffee.com/technicolorlilypond, https://www.zazzle.com/store/technicolorlilypond, https://linktr.ee/TechnoPondDweller
Image Credits
The picture of me with a camera was taken by Teresa Bertossi. The picture of me at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books was taken by Matthew Schneider. I took the other pictures.
