We’ve shared some incredible stories of resilience below that we hope will help you on your journey towards building up your resilience.
Hannah Roberts
Becoming the psychologist I am has been a journey. I’ve always known this is the career I would pursue since taking a psychology class in high school, but I truly had no idea what I was in for. Being a psychologist means witnessing both the best and the worst of humanity. I have heard some of the most traumatic stores and met some of the most beautiful people in my practice. Vicarious trauma is the term for the trauma response that humans have when they see or hear about someone else’s traumatic experience. This is one of the most challenging parts of being a therapist and you don’t really learn how to handle vicarious trauma in grad school. My resilience in these situations comes from staying connected to my empathy – from remembering that humans have an intense capacity to heal and that beauty and joy can come from the most challenging situations. I’ve also found that maintaining a connection to nature has been essential in my resilience. My mom died suddenly of a brain aneurysm while I was in the middle of my residency. I dropped everything (my dissertation, my clients, my life in California) to return home to Michigan to grieve with my family. When I returned to my work, I felt numb. I was afraid I would lose my empathy and my compassion. I drove up the coast to Big Sur and sat at the base of a beautiful waterfall, surrounded by gigantic pieces of granite. I felt so small, but in a good way. I felt the mist on my skin and looked around at the green moss and ferns and realized that life continues and that I would find the strength to continue as well. Read more>>
Laura Gabriela
Since I was little, seeing my Mum, originally from Brazil, get through life in another country and make a life for herself and her family always inspired me. I have always been so set on my goals and had the same goals since I was young that resilience came at as a second nature to me. Whether that is spending every hour I can to work on my music, living in a different country on my own at 18 and create a new life with new friends and without my family. My mentality has always been set on moving towards my goals. Read more>>
Manic Honey
Melody, singer:
I grew up as a queer person in the church, which was an interesting place to grow. I knew I loved to sing and I knew I felt different from other people, but church was one place where I knew I was part of a community. I moved pretty consistently due to divorce and my family’s involvement in the military, but there was always a church. So there was the freedom to sing and express myself, while also facing this underlying feeling that my acceptance in this community was somehow conditional. I was naturally drawn to acting and musical theater which provided a necessary escape, but also showed me pretty clear-cut examples of what I wanted to do and how not to do it. I worked with unsafe acting teachers, and my very first voice teacher kissed me (he later ended up in prison due to his actions abusing other students). Eventually I became less connected to speaking or singing someone else’s words – I wanted to write and sing my own. Because we have to write them; we have to write the stories we were part of. What a torch to carry and pass on, especially in a field where it’s so easy to be taken advantage of. Read more>>
JoAnna Lowe
My resilience comes from my mother. I’ve been blessed to watch my mother play the hand she was dealt over and over and not lose. My mother was born to alcoholic parents that truly loved her and did the best they could given their own circumstance. She became pregnant at the age of 13 and gave birth at age 14. She had 8 more children and raised them all as a single parent. She dropped out of school in the 8th grade because she had to provide for her family. We were extremely poor but loved tremendously. My mom got up everyday and went to work 2 or 3 jobs a day. She never quit doing what was needed to provide for us. We never starved and she sent us to school clean and ready to learn. Read more>>
Megan Nufer
In my mid-20s, I endured a physically and mentally grueling experience that has become the foundation of my resilience. While training for my first marathon, I was struck by a cyclist, resulting in a fractured skull and brain injury. The prognosis was grim, with doctors warning me I might never fully recover. During my month-long recovery, I discovered many others had suffered similar injuries on the congested lakefront path. Motivated by their stories and my own determination, I partnered with Active Trans, a Chicago non-profit advocating for safer transportation. Despite having no experience in politics or public relations, I joined their 18-month campaign to push for separate paths for pedestrians and cyclists. This journey led me to press conferences, media engagements, and even a face-to-face meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, where I passionately pleaded for change. Just before Christmas 2016, Chicago committed to separating the entire path, a triumph made possible by the city’s pledge and a donation from Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel. Read more>>
Mayra Revelo
I believe my resilience stems from the numerous challenges and adversities I’ve faced throughout my life. Failure, heartbreak, traumas, and disappointments have all played a significant role in shaping the person I am today. They have made me stronger and more prepared to handle whatever life throws at me. Growing up without the support and love of my parents was incredibly difficult. They were teenagers when they had me, so I was raised by my grandmother. Although she was loving and caring, she worked long hours to support me, and I often felt the emptiness of not having my parents around. This sense of abandonment carried into my own relationships and marriage. I was constantly afraid that my ex-husband would leave me alone with the kids, and I fought hard to keep my “perfect family” together. Despite my efforts, he left anyway. It was then that I learned people come into your life for a purpose, to teach you something, and when their time is up, it’s time for the next life lesson. Understanding this was a turning point for me, helping me become resilient. Read more>>
Kailin Brown
I have dealt with numerous very difficult losses in my life. Both of my theatre teachers who were more than family to me passed very suddenly only a couple years apart from each other. Helen, my community theatre director since I was three, was the first person who saw potential in me and took a chance on letting this little kid with big dreams join the adult theatre company when I was four. Aikins was the head of my high school’s musical theatre program and became one of my best friends over my four years there. He passed away from a heart attack about one month before I graduated high school. One year later, after my first year at Pace University, my mom passed away from brain cancer. This much loss has taught me that there is no room for being scared or worried about the future, and that I have to make every moment count with no regrets. I saw resiliency in my mom every day, not just the days she was fighting the cancer, but every day before then as a single mom of three headstrong competitive dancers. She taught me how to be resilient and never let myself feel defeated, and even in her afterlife she is still teaching me about resiliency. Read more>>
Annabelle Schneider
Resilience in My Practice as a Spatial Designer and Artist
As a spatial designer and artist who explores spaces for wellbeing, and delves into themes of vulnerability, pain, and human connection, resilience is an integral part of my practice. Here’s where I draw my resilience from: Designing spaces that evoke deep emotional responses necessitates mental strength. The process of conceptualizing and actualizing these environments requires intense focus and creative problem-solving. I draw resilience from my ability to stay mentally agile, navigating obstacles and continuously refining my vision to create impactful experiences that mostly foster community and a reconnect to the self in the present moment. With my work, I aim to eliminate the clutter of overstimulation we’re often surrounded with and direct our focus to the essential we – as humans – should focus on to be whole and healthy. However, I myself often navigate between the extremes with one goal, to find emotional strenght! The process involves personal risk, exposure and requires courage. I do this in order to design spaces that authentically confront themes of vulnerability – I need to place myself in positions that demand emotional resilience in order to profoundly understand and create from a point of deep empathy. I therefore often place myself in emotionally charged situations. My ability to process these emotions and channel them into my work is a testament to my resilience, allowing me to create spaces that resonate profoundly with others. Read more>>
Sara McNally
Life has handed me a lot of challenges, both personally and professionally, that have built me up to who I am today. I have overcome each and every challenge with newfound confidence in myself, growth from the lesson learned, and the knowledge that no matter what cards I am dealt, I will ALWAYS triumph. Believing in yourself is the ultimate game-changer and will be the winning card that gives you everything you have ever wanted in life. Read more>>
King Khazm
I believe much of it is passed through my genes. My family has been through so much over the generations, and despite the odds, have been able to persevere. As a young person I was injured in a deadly car accident and from then on navigated the world with a wheelchair. So from early on I had to learn patience, persistence and being proactive to overcome the never ending obstacles that I would face. Life can be extremely frustrating, and thankfully I had music and art to keep me on a forward track. Read more>>
Oksana Tademy
Resilience means to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulty; to spring back into shape. When I think of resilience I imagine a rubber band. You can stretch it, you can pull it but once you let go it snaps back into it’s original size and shape. It adapts to change but doesn’t allow pressure to break it. In fact, it uses that resistance to snap back. Resilience is about enduring and allowing changes to effect you for the better. For me, having a strong sense of purpose is what gives me resilience. It’s very popular for people to say that purpose is your “why,” but I think it’s deeper than that. Let me explain. When changes in life occur, and they WILL occur, your “why,” for doing something may also change. Motives can change, feelings can change, reasons can change. Purpose, however, doesn’t change. It may evolve as more of it is revealed to you but it does not change. When you have a deep sense of purpose it makes it easier to weather storms when changes come because your purpose remains constant. It’s the cause and the intent for which you were put here on Earth. So when resistance comes, I don’t feel afraid. I immediately look for the opportunity in the obstacle How can I use this to become better? How can I use this resistance to push myself farther? How can I solve this issue and prevent it from happening again? These are the questions I ask myself when issues arise. Those questions come from an understanding that whatever is happening TO me is actually happening FOR me. It doesn’t intimidate me because I know that I was born for this. So, if I’m going through an experience, there’s something at the other end that is meant to help me become who I was born to be. That mindset allows me to stay focused and productive until I find a way to grow through it. So yeah, purpose is where I get my resilience from. Read more>>
D. T.
To put it simply, my resilience has developed through life experience and hardships. Honestly, I am still working to develop my resilience and determination. I have experienced loss, rejection, physical injuries, and several life changing events that, many times, I approached with a defeatist attitude. As I have grown, I have learned to accept life and all its possibilities, preferences aside. There is a quote along the lines of, “When one door closes, another one opens.” I think of these words often in time where I feel I haven’t gotten the results I wanted or circumstances don’t align in my favor. Lastly, at the core of my resilience, and reason for being, is my mother. My mom, La Tanya Cherry-Lyle, showed me the definition of resilience daily as she worked to raise her children. She passed away in 2022 and ever since I have tried to honor the work and love she poured into me and my passions. Read more>>
Joey Babylon
I think my resilience comes from my ability to looked positively in any situation. To be action oriented but not be attached to outcomes and to always be flexible and allow change. Obviously there have been many obstacles I have been through, but my resilience doesn’t come from that it only proves it. Read more>>
Natalie McCarty
This is genuinely such a refreshing question, so I just wanted to thank you for asking it. It’s very kind of you and also super refreshing. Honestly, my answer might be a bit unconventional, but grief has been my biggest motivator. Sometimes you really do have to lose it all to find who you are and what you’re really made of. So, I would definitely attribute my resilience to lot of tough experiences I’ve gone through in my life. I think grief can be such a source of change and growth and has ultimately been so influential in shaping who I am today. Grief has given me a kind of fearlessness that pushes me to chase my dreams. It’s fueled my passion and made me work even harder to counter its draining effects. More than that, it’s given me a deep love for humanity and a unique ability to empathize with others. It’s helped me ask the important questions and share the conversations that need to happen. Strangely, grief and the fear of running out of time have made me live fully in the present, savoring every moment. I live each day as if it were my last, making sure I never go to bed feeling unfulfilled or unhappy with how I’ve left things. In many ways, grief has been an accelerant in my life, offering me perspective, sharpening my work ethic, and emboldening me to take more risks in my career. Read more>>
Rob McNeil
Each challenge has been tougher than the last. I struggled working in the corporate world for years and made it through that. I went through the worst financial hardship I had ever encountered about a year ago. I lost my job, crashed my car, and went through a breakup all at once. I had friends and family who had my back and picked me up through this. But my resilience came from my ability pick myself up off the ground, dust myself off, and power through. Ultimately you have to love what you do so much that nothing will stop you from working towards attaining your goals. Read more>>
Sarah Hollins
I think I was born with it but my childhood definitely shaped it. My father lost custody of me due to his alcohol and cocaine addictions when I was just a baby, so my mom moved in with my grandparents and I lived with them until she remarried my step-dad when I was around 4 or 5 years old. I actually share this with my grandfather (my pop-pop as we say in NJ). He was a farmer whose mother died when he was very young and, when his father remarried, his step-mother forced his father to disown him and his grandparents raised him for the rest of his life. This set him up to eventually own the family farm land and led him down a path of hard work and resilience. (He got so sick in middle school that he missed too much school and never graduated past the eighth grade). The combination of his influence as well as a myriad of difficult moments in my childhood (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological and emotional abuse) that I experienced definitely formed a toughness in me that has propelled me through life. While it has definitely programmed me to a default of self reliance, independence, and typical unshakability, I am trying to learn how to be soft, how to ask for help, and work on forging new neural pathways when my coping skills that led to resilience presently get in the way of vulnerability, connection, and being in touch with my emotions. Read more>>
Dennis Robinson
I get my resilience from lived experience. Early in my career, I was apprenticing for a busy contractor who specialized in new construction on projects over $150,000. About six months into my apprenticeship, he apparently ran into financial difficulties, and all of his projects came to stop. I had learned that several of these customers had paid for a large part of their project before the work was done, leaving them in financial trouble, with a contractor that was about to disappear. Since I was still working part time at my family business, and had a few smaller construction projects of my own, I was in a financial position to help these customers. I started injecting tens of thousands of dollars to get these projects running again. I was able to assist the majority of his clients and finish up their project on budget. By the time the final customer project was complete, this decision ended up causing a huge financial hardship on my family and at one point I had to borrow money from my parents. Despite this, my wife and I believed it was the right thing to do for these families who had put their trust in a bad contractor. We hoped that karma would reward us in the long run. As it turned out, the referrals from these families once I formed my own company allowed me to achieve substantial profit in the early days of my business, which has now turned into a 6 million dollar per year in revenue company. The lessons I learned—educating customers and maintaining transparency and honesty—have become foundational to my business practices. It saddens me to hear so many stories of people losing money in construction due to a lack of basic knowledge on how to protect themselves financially when entering large contracts. Read more>>
Lisa Love
My resilience comes from a place deep within. It is a knowingness that I must go on. I move forward no matter how difficult the circumstance might be. I believe I must stay strong. For me, it helps to move my focus from the issue at hand to visualizing an outcome I want. Read more>>
Sherianna Boyle
Years ago I was faced with the harsh reality that my marriage was not at all what I thought it was. I knew it wasn’t perfect but I hadn’t realized how toxic things had gotten. As our marriage began to unravel and the truth started to surface I found myself in the position of having to decide whether to stay married or get divorced. I choose neither. I must confess at the time I was researching for my book Emotional Detox. I was learning about emotions and the vital role they play in helping us to create a stable, healthy and happy life. I choose to feel. As a result, I decided to put myself on an Emotional Detox for the next year. Through a daily practice of processing my emotions, I was able to heal not just myself but also my marriage. Read more>>
Kail Problems
My resilience comes from my mother Althea and my grandmother Dinora Matthews. My father wasn’t around at all so I was raised by these incredibly strong and resilient women. My mother was diagnosed with Lupus when she was about 16 years old ,right around the time she had got pregnant with me, but don’t for one second think my mom was the average teen mom, my mom actually graduated high school a year early while pregnant with me while most of her peers didn’t graduate at all. The pressure a pregnant girl in high school receives to get an abortion is through the roof when everyone is telling you “you have your whole life ahead. of you” but how about being a teenage girl and doctor’s are saying “you and this baby are going to die if you try to have it because of your Lupus” what type of resilient, bold or crazy do you have to be to go against those kind of odds? and at that age?, My mother will forever be the strongest person I ever knew may she rest in peace, she passed when I was 12 and my grandmother Dinora took me in full time and raised me from then on, My grandmother is also not here she passed in 2020 from cancer, I was 22 years old and been without a mothers love ever since. Read more>>
Leigh-Anne LoPinto
I love this question because I have been thinking a lot about resilience lately, and the importance of it – now more than ever. Resilience is built from doing hard things, not from having everything be easy and having things handed to you. This develops our ability to face challenges in life with ease and grace, and to know that these challenges are often ‘for’ us – to teach us necessary lessons for our growth and development. It’s taken me time to develop that mindset, that growth mentality – it didn’t happen overnight! But I now see it as one of the most empowering things for us. My resilience was built from learning to overcome a traumatic childhood, and to later recover from a painful divorce. The healing process took humility, I had to look at myself with clear eyes and realize that certain things needed attention (for example, challenging and rewriting limiting beliefs, learning solid relationship skills, etc.) I’ve learned that I can get through anything, and that I’m not fragile. I have also learned that these things have built certain attributes within me that needed to be built – such as self-love, strong boundaries, and secure attachment. Read more>>
Astaris-Michael Elliott-Yates
I don’t like to be told no. I like to turn things into a yes or work towards that yes every-time I can. I remember how I’ve been told I couldn’t be a artist, I’ve been told I couldn’t sing, I’ve been told I’m too feminine, I’ve been told I could never model runway that I’m too short. How I wouldn’t be able to make it far and how I’ve surpassed all of those things out of spite and the sheer willpower that I Can, and I will. I don’t limit myself because I’m a androgynous black LGBTQ artist in heels, I’m empowered because of it. Read more>>
DAN SHAKED
My personal resilience dates back to my grandparents. All of my grandparents were Holocaust survivors. I was very close to my mother’s parents. Although my grandmother did not speak much about her experiences, my grandfather shared many stories about his horrific memories. Hearing his unfathomable recollections from an early age, and his strength while he dodged trauma after trauma has undoubtedly shaped my ability to overcome difficult situations. Despite my grandparent’s situations, they managed to escape the Nazis and made their way to Cyprus. There, they got married, and then eventually made their way to Israel. I still am in awe that they were able to create and establish a relatively “normal” life in the second half of their life. My parent’s story also gives me the strength to persevere. With no money and two small children (my older siblings), they moved to the US to study. They did not speak a word of English, lived in a dorm room with two small children, both attended school and raised a family. Transitions and huge cultural changes is clearly a theme in my family history. Transitions and changes are some of the hardest for me, so when I feel that discomfort in those moments of adjustments, I dig deep into myself and remember that I have it in my blood to overcome these obstacles. Read more>>
Lourdes Leiner
I get my resilience from the peace that writing poetry offers me. It affords me space to express myself, keep a record of my experiences and clear my mind. I get resilience from being strong for others and knowing that people always deserve to be cared for. By affording others kindness, compassion and support I gain strength. I get resilience in the trust in my ability to navigate myself to a better place even in times of hardship or crisis. Read more>>
Kelly Kendrick
Navigating life as a divorced mother of two has been filled with both immense challenges and significant triumphs. The early years were particularly tough, as I grappled with the emotional and logistical hurdles of single parenthood. Balancing work, household responsibilities, and the emotional well-being of my children often felt overwhelming. Yet, each obstacle presented an opportunity to grow stronger and more resourceful. I learned to manage my time meticulously, prioritize self-care, and seek out a supportive community. These experiences taught me resilience and the importance of maintaining a positive outlook, even during the most trying times. Following my dreams has been a pivotal part of my journey towards resilience. Pursuing a career in empowerment coaching, despite the initial uncertainties, has been incredibly rewarding. It allowed me to align my professional life with my passion for helping others. This career path has provided a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment. Each milestone achieved in my career reinforced my belief in the power of perseverance and hard work. It also served as a powerful example for my children, demonstrating that it’s never too late to follow your dreams and that the pursuit of one’s passions can lead to a fulfilling and resilient life. Read more>>
