What is Resilience?
Resilience is so much more than bouncing back. When we ask for a definition of resilience in our workshops, people always nail the first component.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back after adverse experiences, trauma or stress. But there are actually TWO components to resilience. Resilience is: 1) The ability to bounce back 2) The ability to learn from our past experiences in order to help with whatever adverse experiences, trauma, or stress comes next.
It is the cumulative learning that people don’t think about, but is what differentiates the resilient from those who tend to get stuck in their challenges. Think about the people who know and admire who have been through a LOT. They don’t just bounce back, they have a wisdom about them, because each time they bounce back they learn and grow. By looking at stress and adverse experiences in this way, we flip the narrative. Rather than dragging us backward, each challenge has given us more wisdom and tools to combat the next challenge. Resilient people keep bouncing back, but they keep gaining skills they know will help them through the next thing, so when the next thing happens, they know they can get through that, too.
Who are the resilient people around you? How do they use what they have learned to tackle whatever comes next?
How can you use what you have experienced to help you get through whatever you are facing right now?
