Resilience
May 23, 2011 | My Jottings
My friend Carole and I were in Bella Flora last week and she found this card. She bought it and plans to frame it.
I know it’s supposed to be funny, but it impacted me in a wistful way.
This is a person of resilience, this person who can rejoice at seeing the moon after the barn was reduced to ashes.
I would like to be more resilient. In fact, if I could find a Resilience 101 class, I would sign up for it.
Are you a resilient person? If so, how do you think you became resilient? What are some strategies you use to bounce back? If you’re not the resilient sort, what do you think you could do to become more resilient?
Somewhere in the epistles is says something along the lines of And having done all, stand…. I am at that place. I seem incapable of acting progressively but I can hang on tenaciously. Resilence is for the young ~ because they still believe they are invincible & can overcome any & all adversity. I’m running out of time for such luxuries & I’ve lived long enough to know that sometimes all one can do is endure. I don’t think I’m much help. Perhaps the key to resilence is a more cheerful & optimistic persona than I was blessed with. Don’t be so hard on yourself, my friend. God made you as you are & can use you as you are so no need to mourn what you are not. ?
PS Put it all down to menopause. I’m blaming everything on menopause these days! lol
A very thoughtful and compassionate response to my questions, Ganeida. It’s nice to know there’s someone out there who gets it. I also like your advice to blame it on menopause. I think I need to go tell my husband that today had a lot to do with menopause. 🙂
Some people are just naturally more resilient than others. It’s a personality characteristic, like a tendency toward shyness.
That said, I think someone can choose to be more resilient by choosing not to worry. Resilience, is, at its core, optimism.
Not a rainbows and unicorns optimism, just the quiet knowledge that no matter what happens, NO MATTER WHAT, it will be OK. It is for a purpose. You might not like it, but it is going to be OK in the end. If it’s not OK yet, it’s not the end.
XOXO
If it’s not okay yet, it’s not the end. Hmmmmm. 🙂
I am in agreement with Sharon’s comments about choosing to be resilient. I am very resilient. I did not set out to be so, but have ended up that way. I have lived through circumstances and experiences that had the potential to be pretty disastrous in my life had I chosen a different coping mechanism. My beloved Daddy used to say to me from the time I was a child, “Tauni, God will never give you anything you can’t handle. You may wonder at times if He really knows what He is doing. But it is the truth.” Trust and believe, there have been many times I have wondered that very thing. I was a consummate worrier. But just as Daddy always said, I have learned that what He (God) brings me to, He will give me the strength to get through. So for me, resilience lies in the reliability in the belief that God is who He says He is AND because of that, NO MATTER WHAT, IT WILL BE OK. He hasn’t brought me this far to drop me!
Wise and wonderful words, Tauni. You are definitely one of the most resilient people I’ve ever known. I think your daddy was a pretty remarkable man too.
Jewel, I think the fact that “this ain’t the party” has been my source for resilience. I will do this life He has given me, in Christ, and fulfill the call He has set for me as best I can. My eyes have a more intense focus on the finish line than ever before…but I so desire to live this life not snagged and beaten by the distractions. Having said that, it is ironic that there are more distractions than ever!!! I am learning!
I have been blessed beyond comprehension and this revelation has brought a gratitude that has become a new piece of armor for me. The grenade of gratitude!!!
Your life shows every word you shared here, Ginny. Now all you need for the battle is some Mil-Dar. 🙂