The Path of Resilience

When adversity knocks on your door

The hardships in life are many. We experience and endure plenty of them.

Often we get walloped, it feels like we are never getting back up. Like we’ve been sucker-punched in the stomach causing the air to exit our lungs, leaving us out of breath. As if the ground beneath our feet disappeared.

Life has its way of reminding us how difficult it can get. It’s an adventure filled with highs and lows. Like a rollercoaster taking you up and down, the highs can be very high, but the lows can be very low too.

What do you do when everything feels like is going against you? How do you respond when no matter how hard you try doesn’t work? Or no matter the effort you put into something doesn’t go your way and you have to start again from the beginning?

When all your energy depletes and you fall?

You get back up.

You grit your teeth, put your fists down, and push yourself up.

Regardless of the blow, you shift your focus on a single item: one step forward. At the beginning it may feel impossible, but every 0.01% effort you put into it the more possible it will seem. And it will compound into something bigger.

You position your mind in such a context it switches to “survival mode”.

You unlock access to the path of resilience.

If I learned anything through my own hardships is how powerful resilience is and how it can transform one’s mindset. I’ve witnessed this first-hand. Every time I was compelled to throw in the towel, it brought me back on my two feet.

Being resilient means bouncing back from when we are knocked down. It means understanding hardships are part of life.

I genuinely believe it’s a superpower in disguise.

In our darkest moments when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, we must look within and focus purely on enduring the processes of hardships.

Not giving up on ourselves helps us cultivate this mindset of pushing through it.

And that’s how we build it: through the hardships each one of us is fighting. The best part, we develop coping mechanisms without realizing it along the way.

In the beginning, it won’t seem so, but the more we engage with it, the more its compounding effect will start to show. And when we are called to invoke its power again, it will be easier than before. And so on.

Resilience is not just about bouncing back to the original state but also adapting and growing stronger in the face of adversity. Which is the most important trait.

I have always managed to go farther than where I was after being knocked down; fact.

Full disclosure: It does need strength and courage. Its path is a lonely one. But it’s not permanent. And that in itself is the silver lining in all this.

The drive to traverse it lies within all of us — we need the right trigger to activate the mechanism in our brain.

So the next time a burden comes knocking on your door, or when a misfortune is making you question your sanity, and whether there is an end to the suffering, remember to look within.

Keep in mind the current state of hardship is not permanent, and thus, does not define you nor is it an accurate representation of your life.

Focus on one thing and one thing only: keep moving forward — even at a 0.01% pace.

Build your resilience.

Final thoughts

What value would the highs have if the lows didn’t happen? What gains would we stand to get if the absence of joy and satisfaction didn’t exist to make us appreciate their presence?

The overall journey is what makes life beautiful. The secret is to have the mindset and be able to experience it in all its glory.