Author name: Ali Ingersoll

For a long time, I genuinely believed I had mastered patience.

After a spinal cord injury, seven years of surgeries, and more waiting rooms than I can count, patience didn’t feel optional — it felt baked in. Healing moved at its own pace. Bodies don’t care about calendars. Progress showed up in inches, not milestones. If patience were a class, I figured I’d already passed with honors.

Turns out… there was a sequel.

For a long time, I genuinely believed I had mastered patience.

After a spinal cord injury, seven years of surgeries, and more waiting rooms than I can count, patience didn’t feel optional — it felt baked in. Healing moved at its own pace. Bodies don’t care about calendars. Progress showed up in inches, not milestones. If patience were a class, I figured I’d already passed with honors.

Turns out… there was a sequel.

This month, I’m exploring how to identify the beliefs running in the background — and how taking responsibility doesn’t mean blaming yourself, but becoming the architect instead of the tenant.

This month, I’m exploring how to reframe “control” as something internal instead of external — and how to use the science of choice to reshape the stories you tell yourself at work, in relationships, and in recovery.

We spend a lot of time trying to control things we were never meant to — outcomes, people, the Wi-Fi. (Especially the Wi-Fi.)

But control is slippery. What our brains actually crave isn’t control itself — it’s the feeling of choice.

If happiness were a sport, most of us would be running an ultra-marathon with no finish line and no snacks.

Happiness is everywhere — on coffee mugs, billboards, LinkedIn posts, and probably the last inspirational quote your aunt texted you. But here’s the catch: chasing it like a finish line often leaves us feeling… less than happy.

Reclaiming responsibility is where resilience turns into forward motion. Neuroscience tells us our brains are wired to protect us — which often means they keep us stuck. When the amygdala (our “danger detector”) is in overdrive, it shuts down the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain that helps us problem-solve, plan, and move forward.

Last month, we talked about Redirecting—that crucial first move when chaos hits and the brain is screaming in every direction. Redirecting is about attention. But this month? We’re talking about interpretation. Because the story you tell yourself about your situation often hurts more than the situation itself. That’s where Reframing comes in. WHEN THE STORM

Because progress doesn’t happen when you try to fix everything at once.
It happens when you find your next right step and focus all your energy there.

We all have beliefs that guide us. Some are conscious. Some are leftover from middle school trauma and questionable YouTube rabbit holes.

We all have beliefs that guide us. Some are conscious. Some are leftover from middle school trauma and questionable YouTube rabbit holes.