Carrying On #3
How do you know if you are exercising your capacity for resilience? To be sure, it doesn’t always feel glorious in the moment. More often, you see it as you look back. Let’s ask a few questions to help you see your own resilience.
Have you ever survived the proverbial rule of three? While you’re not obligated to have three bits of bad news or three experiences of bad luck, you may think in those terms after the second unfortunate event transpires. Soon after, you may identify a third. During such stretches, you struggle and may even feel like life’s punching bag. So, think back. What unfortunate series of events have your survived? While these may have had difficult consequences, you did get through it. You’re still here. You’re still going.
If you have ever turned a “can’t” into a “can,” you have exercised your resilience. Look back. What seemed impossible at some previous point in life that is now a reality? What did you think you could never do that you have now done? Whether or not anyone else is impressed, this was an important milestone or goal for you. You exercised long term resilience.
Has anyone ever said to you, “I just don’t know how you do it?” Or, “I could never do what you’ve done.” First of all, they probably could. But second, they are recognizing what you may not even see in yourself. You have done hard things and you can do hard things. As you do, you are exercising your capacity for resilience.
Don’t quit. Persist. Persevere. Get up and tackle the seemingly impossible one more time, one more day. You can do it!
Worth Repeating
You just can’t beat the person who won’t give up
-Babe Ruth
