“Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall, but you keep going.”

– Yasmin Mogahed

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At work and elsewhere, loss, dismay, setback, indignity, ill health, betrayal and failure . . . they randomly befall each of us, often when least expected and most disruptive. How you respond to misfortune is ultimately up to you.

Your choices of how to respond to your misfortunes are limitless, ranging from, on the one hand, unfocused anger, refusal to accept your new reality and blame of others. On the other hand, they also include reaching deep inside your soul for that confidence and strength that have developed when you have previously encountered challenges of this kind. Your best responses are those that will most likely lead you to the road of recovery, reconciliation and self-rescue.

It is the constellation of personality traits and tendencies – that include inner optimism, self-responsibility, problem-solving skills, even sense of humor – that together comprise that essential survival skill we commonly refer to as resilience.

Can you develop within yourself those resilient personality traits? Sure, you can, by (i) trying to take a positive perspective even on events of misfortune, (ii) viewing your challenges as learning opportunities, (iii) perhaps not “controlling” but “regulating” your emotions and expressing your feelings in appropriate ways, and (iv) focusing yourself, your thoughts and your efforts on the things you can control instead of dwelling on what you cannot change, bearing in mind that doing so will likely yield results that will lead you toward positive outcome, relief, even joy.

In the long run, how you respond to your adversities will tell your life’s story. Even your “rock bottom” can prove to be a new “firm foundation” for your redirection and your rebuilding, if you let it.

Resilience, it’s what paves the path to your recovery.

This quote was sent to us by longtime client and faithful friend, April, who is in the process of recovery from a difficult encounter with breast cancer. I have always known April to be a tough fighter, and an eternal optimist, as well as one who regularly counts her blessings. Nothing beats April! This Monday Thought for the Workweek is “officially dedicated” to her considerable resilience and her continuing recuperation.

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