Building Resilience

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Building Resilience 09

susanmccorkindale.substack.com

Building Resilience 09

Fake it 'til you make it

Susan McCorkindale
Jan 3, 2023
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Building Resilience 09

susanmccorkindale.substack.com

When we're dealt a difficult situation, what choice do we have but to be strong? None. And it stinks because we probably don’t feel strong.

Let’s say you lost your job. How are you feeling? You could be sad. Shocked. Blindsided. Angry. Frightened. Paralyzed. Worried. You need to find a new job, now. No, yesterday.

It’s hard to feel strong when we’re completely freaked out.

So we pretend. We put one foot in front of the other and keep going. We fake it ‘til we make it.

It's called resilience.

This Must Be The Place signage
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

And then, one day, you’ve got a new job or your divorce is final or your spouse is out of the hospital. You’re in a new “place,” as we say.

Now take a moment to celebrate your resilience. No matter how shocked, blindsided, or frightened you were, you did it. You came out the other side. What should that tell you?

If you did it once, you can do it again.

green vine plant on gray concrete wall
Photo by Boldizsar Bednarik on Unsplash

Resilience breeds resilience

Can you even imagine how many times some poor soul pulled the ivy off that wall just to have it grow back? Ivy doesn’t take “no” for an answer. It’s constantly challenged by those seeking to stop its growth. As a result, it’s developed tremendous persistence, endurance, and stamina. Ivy is the very definition of the phrase “resilience breeds resilience.”

Just because we fall down, doesn’t mean we have to stay down. The burden is temporary.

Take it from the ivy.

See you next time!


  • This Champion adaptive surfer

  • An Olympian who found resilience by quitting

  • These 12 tiny stories of gratitude


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