Get inspired by Dr. Edith Eva Eger's story
By Vicki Bohlsen
President & Founder
I get a bit of a side-eye when I say reading is one of my hobbies. I suppose I should make it more clear: for me, reading is a passion, a sort of habit and a form of therapy. I read so much that I don’t remember most titles and, frequently, I discover somewhere around chapter three that a book seems awfully familiar because I’ve already devoured it.
Every once in a while, a book will come along and I will remember its name and author and, more importantly, what about it impassioned me. Usually these are memoirs. The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Dr. Edith Eva Eger is one of those books.
Her story is unforgettable, and her message is universal. At the age of 16, Edith Eger was separated from her sister and sent to Auschwitz mere hours after their parents were sent to the gas chamber. When American troops liberated the camp years later, they found her barely alive in a pile of corpses. She then went on to spend decades determined to make a life. She raised a family and became a renowned psychologist and 35 years later returned to Auschwitz to take a final step in her journey.
That step was not to forgive Hitler or her other sentries; rather, it was to forgive herself. Dr. Eger was determined to free herself of the shackles of the ghosts living inside her mind. She was determined to put the trauma, grief and fear behind her as she had so long ago made the conscious choice to heal.
By sharing her remarkable story, Dr. Eger bravely recalls how her trauma shaped her every thought and action in an attempt to survive. By becoming a psychologist and sharing how she works with her patients, she recounts first-hand how to purposefully put those thoughts and actions to good use.
We’ve all had heartbreak and trauma. And we have the choice as to how we respond to it.
Reading this book made me more determined than ever to put that knowledge to practical use.
Many of her accounts are forever stored in my mind and I draw from them daily in both my personal and professional life.
For instance, I know that employers’ and employees’ lives were impacted by the pandemic. Jobs were lost and companies closed; we’re just starting to see the life-changing impacts as we navigate back to offices, reorganize our internal teams, reestablish partnerships and, perhaps, change jobs and careers.
What has become clear is that no one was unscathed by the pandemic. It will forever be on our minds and in our hearts. We can’t change what happened to us as individuals, but we can manage how we responded and continue to respond to it.
Oprah Winfrey said, “I’ll be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story.” I couldn’t agree more. Her reaction to the most painful of situations imaginable is both inspiring and humbling.
