Resilience-No Mantra but gutsiness

Resilience-No Mantra but gutsiness

Life does not come with a route map and everyone will experience twists and turns, from everyday challenges to traumatic events with more lasting impact, like the death of a loved one, a life-altering accident, or a serious illness. Each change affects people differently, bringing a unique flood of thoughts, strong emotions and uncertainty. Yet some people are to be seen generally adapting better over time to life-changing situations and stressful situations than others. This is what we call resilience.

The world we live in is going through times that are truly troubling. There is a raging pandemic that is claiming thousands of life every day. One is never certain whether he or she is the next victim. Add to that nature’s rage that strikes at will, and not as per any previously prepared and proven charts, centuries old. Add to that the rise of crime, drug addiction, racial and religious hatred. No, the world of today is nothing like the one in which you and I were kids in. Your personal life too seems to be giving these global catastrophes, healthy competition, what with life style illnesses, rising prices, loss of jobs, business failures, divorce etc. There are people who pretend sympathy but backs off at the last moment and others who turn a blind eye in time of need. Life can truly be a handful and to standup to it you require something special. A formula that keeps you going with a smile. This is what we call resilience.

While these adverse events, much like rough river waters, are certainly painful and difficult, they don’t have to determine the outcome of your life. There are many aspects of your life you can control, modify, and grow with. That’s the role of resilience. Becoming more resilient not only helps you get through difficult circumstances, it also empowers you to grow and even improve your life along the way.

Being resilient doesn’t mean that a person won’t experience difficulty or distress. People who have suffered major adversity or trauma in their lives commonly experience emotional pain and stress. In fact, the road to resilience is likely to involve considerable emotional distress. However it is a relatively simple technique and the mantra is but gutsy determination.

As an example I quote an incident from my day, just gone by. Waking up feeling unwell and with the ever present COVID fear hanging around, the day promised to be a harrowing one. Some of those who promised support for major project, either conveniently forgot or couldn’t find time to pick up their phone. It was in the course of this traumatic situation that I can to know of an urgent need for a dying person. Those around me discouraged me or suggested that I just publish a request. This I knew would be forgotten the moment the message left my keypad. However the plight of the unhappy person egged me on.\

Over the rest of the day, I placed a million calls, finally getting a few people to support. The feeling of loss in the beginning turned to one of elation. The determination got me not a cent in return but the satisfaction I felt was worth a million dollars. It just took my determination to shove the negative situation into the bin and make a success of it.

There is no mantra to resilient behavior, but a gutsy response to the bad fate.