Welcome to Building Resilience! | #01

I’m so excited to have you join me on this journey toward building a “resilience muscle,” as I like to call it. Unlike other muscles, the resilience muscle will never get soft and flabby (like the batwings that have usurped the spot where my triceps used to be). Why? Because once we learn how to bounce back – and yes, bounce forward – from life’s trials, that information stays stored in our brain, where we can call upon it anytime. I like to think of it as having six-pack abs in my skull.  

In the image I’ve created for this first newsletter (above, and with all the expertise of a 5-year-old, no offense to 5-year-olds), you’ll see I’ve incorporated one of my favorite quotes. It’s one of the simplest yet most profound statements I have ever read, and it says, “Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.”

At the time I discovered that quote, I also discovered that the word bounce comes from the Latin word for resilience. Cool right? I thought so and promptly lost several hours of my life scouring Google for more information.   

Almost immediately I learned three things: one, I’m a darn good bouncer; two, anyone can become a darn good bouncer, no suffering required; and three, those who learn to bounce and who build their resilience muscle, navigate, and emerge from uncertain times stronger and healthier, more optimistic, and open to new options and opportunities than those who don’t.

And honestly, when aren’t times uncertain? Never.

My feeling is, be ready. Work your resilience muscle every single day. My first tip on how to do that follows this note. See you next Saturday!

This week’s tip: Trust Your Gut

Have you ever taken a job working for someone you knew, from the moment you sat across from them for the interview, you couldn’t work for? Sure, you were probably thrilled with the salary, but I’ll bet you got “Sunday stomach” six nights a week. That’s no way to live, and your gut was trying to tell you so from the get-go. Several years ago, I promised myself I’d never, ever ignore my gut again. And you know what happened? Today my gut is so good, I could lend it to people.

Going on a first date? Take my gut with you. Job interview? Please, bring my gut. Considering a move to the Arctic Circle? That’s a biggie. You, my friend, may borrow my gut for a month!

The more we trust our gut, our intuition, the stronger it gets. And this is crucial for building resilience. If you haven’t been trusting your gut, try it for the next week. My gut says you’ll be happy you did.