Regardless of how it is defined, it is something worth celebrating.
Each month, the Sequel Youth & Family Services Network chooses a word to spotlight across our internal and external communications that highlights something important or valuable for us to focus on.
This past month, our word was Resilience. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines resilience as the “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors.” People who display resiliency are more likely to bounce back when a difficult or stressful situation occurs. They demonstrate optimism and hope throughout the ups and downs of life.
We reached out to our programs across the country and asked them to compile responses to the following question: What Does Resilience Mean to You?
We were amazed by the ways in which our team members and clients/residents see and practice resilience in their everyday lives. Below are some of the uplifting responses we received:
- “To me, resilience means picking yourself back up after a failure or setback and moving forward, persevering, and learning from your mistakes rather than regressing or staying in the same mindset that caused the failure in the first place.”
- “Resilience, to me, means the persistent, conscious decision to keep going, to persevere despite any and all challenges. It doesn’t mean or assume perfection, because that is just not real life…but it’s the day to day challenges that we face with a desire to keep going, to be a little better than we were yesterday. Resilience is having a bad day and coming back the next, no matter what. It’s why we work here. We have to be resilient to show these kids that we will not give up on them.”
- “Resilience means you stand back up no matter how hard you get pushed down and you keep going no matter what life throws at you.”
- “Resilience means my story isn’t over and that tough times give me an opportunity to learn, grow, and become the best version of myself.”
- “Resilience means that you are able to overcome any obstacle in your way no matter how difficult it may seem. Also, resilience is a characteristic one develops over time and it is an uncanny ability to adapt well to trauma, adversity, tragedy and threats. An ability to compartmentalize the source of stress and help our students manage anxiety and uncertainty are keys in the handling these emotions.”
- “Resilience is having a bad day and coming back to start over. Never giving up. Resilience is knowing why you work here, people have given up on our kids so much we have to be resilient so show them that there are adults that won’t give up on them.”
- “Resilience to me means, when you fall 7 times you get up 8. It means that no matter how hard the situation is that you keep going. You might have to crawl at some points, but the most important thing is to pushing through. We all have the ability to keep coming back to change the lives of these kids even when we are run down and frustrated with things.”
The great news about resilience is that it is not something you’re born with, but rather something you build. Resilience is comprised of thoughts, actions and behaviors that anyone can learn — a skill that can be improved throughout your life. No matter what resilience means to you, this ability to overcome challenges is something worth celebrating.
