LEGENDARY WIDOW ROLE MODEL
Dr. Edith Eger
Our April 2023 Legendary Widow Role Model is Dr. Edith Eger, an eminent psychologist specializing in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Her experiences as a Holocaust survivor have helped her treat patients and allow them to escape the prisons of their own minds to find freedom and life fulfillment.
Edith was 16 when the Nazis transported her Hungarian Jewish family to Auschwitz. Her parents were sent to the gas chamber by Joseph Mengele. Edith and her sister were transferred to the Mauthausen and Gunskirchen camps in Austria. Conditions in Gunskirchen were so bad that Edith had to eat grass to survive.
American troops liberated the camps in 1945, and the sisters recovered in an American field hospital where Edith met her future husband, Béla (Albert) Eger, also a Holocaust survivor. Béla had joined the partisans during the war. In 1949, after threats from communists, Edith and Béla fled to the United States with their first child. The couple went on to have two more children. Béla passed away in 1993.
In 1978, Dr. Eger received her PhD in Clinical Psychology. She combines her clinical knowledge and her own experiences with trauma to help others. Choosing to forgive her captors and find joy in her life every day, she has counseled veterans suffering from PTSD, women who were abused, and many others who learn that they too, can choose to forgive, find resilience, and move forward.
In 2017 Dr. Eger wrote a memoir, The Choice: Embrace the Possible, which weaves her personal story with case studies from her work as a psychologist. Her patients’ stories show how people can choose to find freedom, regardless of circumstance.
In The Gift: Twelve Lessons to Save Your Life, published in 2020, Dr. Eger offers practical, uplifting advice about how to recognize and stop destructive, self-sabotaging patterns to find greater life fulfillment. Dr. Eger says, “We don’t get to choose what happens to us, but we do get to choose how we respond to our experience.”
In September 2022, Edith Eger turned 95. Her message is important and powerful. “Though I could have remained a permanent victim — scarred by what was beyond my control — I made the choice to heal. Early on, I realized that true freedom can only be found by forgiving, letting go, and moving on.”
Read about our other Legendary Widow Role Models here.
#WEE2023VIRTUAL
Meet Our WEE 2023 Virtual Speakers
Continuing into April on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, join Modern Widows Club LIVE for discussions with our WEE 2023 Virtual speakers!
These conversations are a wonderful opportunity to learn more about our speakers, the powerful work they do, and the topics they’ll be discussing at WEE 2023 Virtual.
On Wednesday, April 19 at 12pm ET, you’ll meet Juliette Brisman, Author and Licensed Mental Health Professional, as she shares about her topic “Resilience and Reinvention.”
You don’t need to register to watch! Just join us live.
If you missed any of the earlier conversations with our WEE 2023 Virtual speakers, you’ll find recordings on our social media channels.
To learn more about WEE 2023 Virtual, or to register, click below.
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENTS
The Full Sum of Your Feminine Value is Worth Celebrating
By Cyndi Williams, MSW, LCSW
This month at Modern Widows Club we’re talking about empowering feminine value. History credits Benjamin Franklin with saying “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” If you are recently widowed, you may have filed taxes for your spouse for the final time this year. This can feel like a second death as they pay their final financial debt to society.
Take a moment to recognize what it cost you emotionally to move through that milestone… and so many before, and so many yet to come.
The full sum of your feminine value is worth celebrating. Your priceless life spark, your investment in your legacy, your contribution to your community of Wisters (widow + sisters) and the world around you. Your worth is not to be compared to others because it is uniquely yours to invest. You make investments of time, energy, and resources to your family and friends, your career, your faith, and the things that bring you joy.
Wisterhood is a club that none wish to join, but you don’t have to do this alone. The value of local and virtual Modern Widows Club communities depends upon each person to invest their own special gifts — and, according to experts, socialization in community with others offers rich mental health benefits.
Psychologist Susan Pinker says that human contact offers protection from stress by lowering cortisol levels in the body and building trust through release of oxytocin, even through simple interactions such as a high-five.
Socialization also releases dopamine, which acts as a mood enhancer and pain reliever, and the mentoring model at Modern Widows Club offers added cognitive benefits. Professor Matthew Lieberman of UCLA specializes in “social brain,” or the brain function specifically present in social activities. Lieberman says “if you learn in order to teach someone else, you learn better than if you had learned in order to take a test.”
This month, as you consider your feminine value, I hope you will choose to invest in your mental and cognitive health by making time for social connection with others.
Widowed in 2013, Cyndi Williams is a mental health advisor and contributor for Modern Widows Club. Follow her on Facebook at CyndiWilliamsLCSW.
MWC FINANCIAL HEALTH SERIES
Our Free Financial Health Series for Widows Continues
Financial knowledge is crucial in widowhood. You may be faced with new financial responsibilities and challenges that can affect your emotional and physical well-being as well as your future stability.
Financial knowledge can provide empowerment and control in your life during a time of monumental change.
Join us Tuesday, April 25 at 7pm ET on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for the final conversation in our Financial Health Series for widows. MWC Founder Carolyn Moor will talk with Megan Kopka of Kopka Financial, LLC on the topic of “Empowering Feminine Energy, Aligning Your Money and Your Values.”
This discussion will be an invaluable opportunity to learn more about financial health in widowhood.
There’s no need to register to watch. Just mark your calendar and join us LIVE.
#IWD2023
2023 International Widows Day March on Capitol Hill
Widows, widowers, and widow supporters, please join us! Together we’ll highlight issues affecting millions of widows globally.
On June 23, The Coalition for the International Widows March invites you to attend our 2023 International Widows Day event. We’ll walk four blocks from the Department of Health and Human Services to the U.S. Capitol Grounds. Once we reach the U.S. Capitol Grounds we'll have speakers and time to share widowed stories. Our speakers include:
Heather Leathers, Founder, Global Fund for Widows
Shannon Issacs, Executive Director, Global Fund for Widows
HE Hilda Suka-Maudze, African Union Ambassador to the United States
Carolyn Moor, Founder and Development Director, Modern Widows Club
In-person attendance is limited to 200 marchers, so be sure to reserve your spot!
Unable to make it to Washington, DC? You can join us virtually via a live broadcast. Virtual attendance is unlimited, but be sure to reserve your spot to receive additional event details.
This event is sponsored by Global Fund for Widows and Modern Widows Club.
Traveling to Washington, DC for the International Widows Day March and need help with lodging or transportation? Contact Janet Danio, ATEC Travel, at 407-921-2670.
MWC COMMUNITY LAUNCH
Announcing Our Phoenix Community and Support Group for Widows
By Karla T., MWC Phoenix Community Advocate
I lost my husband to cancer in 2017 after an intense 2-1/2 year battle. He was almost 52; I was just barely 50. We were two weeks shy of our 29th anniversary. Our girls were 27, 23, and 21, and our son was 16. We were very happy; my life was everything I had wanted it to be, and then it was turned completely upside down.
Foolishly, I thought I would not be completely knocked down by widowhood because I’d had time to get prepared for it. The truth is, as every widow knows, you can never fully prepare. You cannot possibly know what it will be like until you are in it; and it’s different for everyone.
As he was battling cancer, my husband would often say, “We don’t get to choose what happens to us; we only get to choose what we do about it.” He was and still is my shining light and example of how to live. He loved life, loved people, and loved serving them. That is what I hope to do as a Community Advocate.
Now that I’m 5+ years out, I want to help guide other widows to find their way. I have come to understand that widows can be a tremendous force for good in the world. We have an authentic ability to empathize with others, and we know what it means to power through the bad days and still create a beautiful life. Through education and friendship, we can become empowered to live joyfully and give meaningfully.
Click below to learn more about joining any of our local or virtual communities.
MWC SPECIAL EVENT
Join Us in St. Louis on July 28 for a Special FUNdraising Event
Come experience a grand slam of fun with your friends at Modern Widows Club! Enjoy the cheers, the camaraderie, and a summer night under the ballpark lights.
This event is not just for widows. Please invite your friends, family members, and associates!
First pitch is at 7:15pm. Be sure to arrive early for a pre-game honorary pitch by Modern Widows Club Founder Carolyn Moor, fulfilling one of her life-long dreams.
Your ticket costs just $75 — the average ticket price for this game is $95! This special baseball FUNdraising event benefits Modern Widows Club.
All seats are in the Right Field Box, sections 128-130. We’ll be together in a group! Only 500 tickets are available for our group, so be sure to purchase yours soon.
Click below to learn more about this special event and purchase your tickets.