Have you ever faced something really hard in your life and wished you were more resilient in that situation?
I think some people are born with more resiliency than others especially depending on their childhood or the events of their lives. But I really do believe that it’s something that can be grown and developed.
To me, resiliency is when you just keep going and you keep looking for the good even when you’re going through hard times. You adapt, adjust, and make tweaks along the way so you can keep moving forward when you feel like things aren’t working well.
I attribute most of my resiliency to my faith, because my hope is in something greater than myself. It’s in God’s redemption, grace and the way He overcame the world on my behalf.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
However, I do think there are practical ways we can practice resiliency.
Surfing is a great example of this in my life. I have a lot of grit naturally, but re-learning to surf with one arm at age 13 was definitely a great lesson in resiliency! For those of you who don’t surf, surfing is one of the hardest sports in the world to do. The ocean is not a nice, happy-go-lucky place all of the time and it’s not easier on me than it is on anyone else in the water. Waves break on you over and over again, you take rough wipeouts and you get beat up sometimes. So I’m often pushed to my limits.
Like this:
One of the best things about resiliency is that we have the ability to make choices along the way to minimize the challenges we deal with. We each have to become our own problem-solver. No one else is going to do it for us.
Learning to surf with one arm was a difficult road for me, but it became easier with the handles that my dad made for my boards. The handles allowed me to catch more waves and take fewer wipeouts. I still have days where the ocean is just against me and surfing is so difficult. However, those days are less frequent than they once were.
What can you problem-solve in your life?
There are so many situations in our lives where we can make it easier for ourselves to remain resilient if we do a little tweaking and problem solving. For example, maybe you’re in a really stressful season at work and are just so incredibly exhausted. Perhaps the situation is something that you can’t change, but you can change a few routines that would be energizing and life-giving for you to help your days be better overall. Maybe you decide to go to bed earlier instead of watching an extra show. Maybe you listen to a sermon or pray on the way to work to prepare yourself for the day. Maybe you have been eating junk food and decide to start feeding yourself better so that poor nutrition doesn’t compound your exhaustion.
