Resilience is a skill. This was a huge lesson for me. I had always clung to the belief that I wasn’t resilient. I thought that some people were inherently more resilient, and that was just how it was. It had never occurred to me that I could become more resilient with practice, and that falling down and picking myself up again was just one way to do that. Learning this made me more emboldened to try, because even if I failed, it could help me become more resilient.
—Kirsten Sevig, Striped Pears and Polka Dots — The Art of Being Happy
Amen to that! I don’t have to go looking for chances to practice, nowadays they come to me, but I find challenges are a lot easier to handle if I look at them as an opportunity for skill development. What about you?
probably true. and proof that the old saying “that which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger!” and the skill is there for the next time it’s needed. and there’s always a next time. 🙂
My favorite prayer when things got tough used to be,
Now I’ve been having so much chance to practice I’ve simplified it to,
It keeps me centered and focused.
🙂 that’s good!
🙂
A favorite practice of mine these days: learning how to continue talking, and understandably, despite the loss of names and other nouns. It’s a fun game in which I’ve enrolled several friends. No more embarrassed (and embarrassing to others as well) interruptions about how I can’t remember, etc. Just carry on.
That sounds like a great strategy. Doing the best we can with what we have left.
Reminds of the accountant’s assistant asking me to find something to which I responded, “Goody! A treasure hunt!” Attitude is everything.
It makes all the difference. 🙂
I think that I have proved to myself that I am a very resilient person by just being alive till now whereas, I should have popped off a long time ago, the way I have lived!
Yes, you’ve done quite well!
Please edit the word reliant in the comment above to resilient. Thank you.
I didn’t even notice the typo but I have changed it.
Life is an exercise in becoming resilient if we want to survive.
Some people muddle through without personal resilience, but they don’t thrive.
Well, the level of resilience you display rather depends on the extremity of the challenge. If it’s only a minor one like the boiler (furnace) breaking down, it doesn’t take much resilience to deal with that. On the other hand, if your house burns down or your spouse has terminal cancer, then that’s the real test. Fortunately I haven’t experienced that sort of challenge as yet.
I’m not sure I see challenges as an opportunity for skill development. More like an opportunity for problem-solving – or simple survival.
The point is if you use challenges well you can become more resilient, increasing your chances of handling a big one if it comes.