Resilience Powered by Hope

Resilience. Briefly defined, it is the ability to recover from adverse situations.

In real terms, it is standing up tall when we have suffered a loss or endured a challenging time; it is resisting the urge to sleep through the trauma. Some days our resilience shows up in ways that attract the attention of those around us, and other days we must be our own cheering squad as we finally get out of bed to take a shower. As evidenced by the countless advertisements for courses or advice that can be purchased, many people seek to learn how to become resilient. Resilience isn't something that we must learn, it is something that we must strengthen through regular usage, and there are a few practices that can help us to recognise and strengthen our resilience. I am fortunate to have a resilience that has always been strong naturally; and conversely procrastination is my weakness. That is something that I must sit with myself often to focus on and counter.

The greatest piece of my own resilience is maintaining HOPE. I have an endless source of hope deep in my soul, and it shows up almost daily in different ways. I counter anxiety with it, and there is a steady stream of anxiety from deep within for me to practice on. When I think of my tomorrows, I know that I am destined for experiences that are extraordinary. I believe that I have a greater purpose, and that it is almost within reach. Those beliefs are what keep me getting up and pushing forth. Those beliefs are what give meaning to the things that I have suffered through - the knowledge that the hardest parts of my life were lessons, teaching me how to best help others when they are suffering. It would be too much for me to bear, to think that I have had so many challenging moments without a greater meaning behind them. Maintaining my hopeful outlook is important to my basic survival!! For many people, when hope shows up, they react as if it is a pest, and smack it down. The fear of being hurt prompts them to kill the hope before it can tempt them to get hurt again. I nurture my hope and encourage it to make grand suggestions. I follow it into unfamiliar places, and I explore the world knowing full well that I will probably get knocked down again. I also know that when I do, hope will be waiting somewhere nearby, ready to run off into another adventure. And I get up to follow it willingly. How do you react when hope arrives for you?

Another important part to my own resilience is my refusal to be seen as a victim. Bad things happen, and sometimes one person can seem to have more catastrophes than others around them. That imbalance does not mean that someone is a victim; that perceived imbalance is often a matter of perspective. People often forget that not everyone's challenges are visible to the world, and that some people prefer to bear their challenges quietly without sharing publicly that they have been hurt or tested. If you consider that many of your challenges occur within yourself or within your home, you can see how your own life may seem far different to people that you see when walking down the street. Life tests us all in different ways, and I do believe that we must complete those challenges while resisting the urge to compare our own life path with others’ journeys. It is my belief that seeing oneself as a victim is a behavior borne of comparison and the mistaken understanding that everyone must be equal. How do you perceive your life, and the challenges that you have faced?

Resilience is not something that a person needs to learn how to have. We all have resilience; we simply need to learn to recognize those behaviors and strengthen our ability to get up every single time that we get knocked down. Standing in the shower with tears running down your face is resilience. Eating a handful of cereal for dinner is also resilience. Every time you take a step towards healing, you are strengthening your resilience. Reading a book, or even resonating with a meme is a step towards consciously moving forward, which is a cornerstone to growing your resilience.

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