In our building blocks of success series, we tackle the various foundational blocks we believe are essential for success. Resilience is near the top of the list, because pursuing greatness almost always means you will face losses, mistakes and tough times along your journey. The ability to bounce back is so critical and we hope the stories below will inspire you to dig deep and discover more of your own resiliency.
Allison Norris
My resilience is ingrained in my strong belief in my own abilities. This self-assurance comes from a combination of life experiences, accomplishments, and the support from my family. After multiple failures and mistakes, I discovered an inherent strength within myself. In addition, my resilience comes from a deep connection to my values. By aligning my daily life and decisions with my beliefs, I find peace and strength in knowing that I am walking a path that is authentic. Read More>>
David Jauregui
I have been doing this for years, I have always liked to be creative and find a way. Taking no for an answer when I wanted something bothered me. Though sports I made leaps and bounds when I would set my mind to something. Many big and small things have to be sacrificed in order to get where you want. Read More>>
Kimberly Licht
My resilience came from my parents, hands-down. They taught me to ask for what I want. and, that in the worst case scenario, the answer would be no. My dad also taught me that there are really no right or wrong decisions. You can’t know if it’s right or wrong until you’ve made the decision, so make one. If it turns out to be wrong, then change it up. That allowed me to feel free to make mistakes. I read a book many years ago called “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”. It has been incredibly empowering to live by that mantra. Read More>>
Ylenia Mino
My resilience stems from my immigration story, which has played a significant role in shaping my journey as a fine artist and entrepreneur. As an immigrant woman, I faced the daunting task of starting fresh in a foreign land, but I embraced it as an opportunity to pursue my dreams wholeheartedly. Read More>>
Andrea Edde
As a wellness expert and yoga & Pilates teacher, my resilience stems from a combination of personal experiences, inner strength, and the teachings of mindfulness and self-care. I have faced various challenges and obstacles in my own life, and these experiences have helped me cultivate resilience. Read More>>
Diamond Coles
My resilience is a product of my foremothers and my spiritual journey. My grandma laid the foundation for my resilience through guidance, nurturing, and understanding. The many lessons gained from her experiences showed me that falling is merely an opportunity to rise again. Although in 2021, she lost her battle with cancer, she is with me every day through her stories and memories. My mommy is another person who has given me the courage to withstand difficulties. Read More>>
Niki Dawson
I think life didn’t really give me a choice, so I just wanted to at least try. And that will of a mustard seed to try, grew into the resilience I tap into now. In a competitive entertainment industry, I truly think you can grow a lot from rejection & delays with the right perspective. Read More>>
Kenita Smith
I believe that resilience runs in our bloodline. My grandmother was a mother of 10 children, and she still managed to become an Licensed Nurse Practitioner (LPN) and raise children that attended college or learned a trade. Today, I could not imagine raising 9 children in a three bedroom home with one bathroom, but she did. Likewise, my mother, was a single mother at the age of 20 and later married and had two more children, all one year apart, but she also became an LPN and raised three children who are determined, successful in their own right, and help support four bonus children. Their strength is remarkable and I honor them. Read More>>
Jesse Diaz
I feel like I’m a pretty resilient person, more than most. I attribute this mostly to my Family, My past, and cutting hair. I sprinkle some credit in there for myself in a minute haha. My family is incredible, we’ve been through a lot together from beginning up to current time. My father is an immigrant from Mexico and has built an incredible music career out of nothing, my Mama has done the same in her respectful profession. Read More>>
Sara Im
I get my resilience from overcoming the hardest time in my life. It was the time when I persevered through adversity and trauma when I was taken into captivity during the Communist took over Cambodia in the 70’s. Read More>>
Brandon Emmitt
I come from the ghetto, we didn’t have a car to get around so we had to walk everywhere. I remember going to school with holes in my shoes. Outside playing as kids seeing drugs on the ground. Having gangs shooting at each other in my neighborhood. I remember seeing my dad work long hours and days just to make ends meet. Read More>>
Erin Delander
I gained resilience from a young age. From the age of nine, I was showing symptoms of an autoimmune disease. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I got a diagnosis of Lupus SLE from a doctor. Since then and prior, I go through periods of stability and times of flares. I have had long stays in the hospital and scary medical situations, but I survived. Most of the things that I have experienced with my lupus, I don’t think many would still have a great attitude and be resilient. I think that my lupus, while it often sucks, has made me the strong woman that I am today. Read More>>
Christina Kennedy
Resilience is a quality that has played a significant role in my life, and it stems from a combination of internal and external sources. First and foremost, my resilience comes from within myself. I believe that resilience is a mindset that can be cultivated through self-awareness, perseverance, and a positive outlook. I have learned to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and development, which has allowed me to bounce back from setbacks and keep moving forward. Read More>>
Brandon Weinert
Resiliency, I’m sitting here thinking about my resilience and what I’ve done, what I’ve had to struggle through in order to be where I am. The one thing that comes to mind (and this was very recent) a conversation I had with my partner about how sometimes I just want to quit, I want to give up, I want to stop playing music. I’ve had this thought many, many times. Whether it be from not feeling good enough, uncertainty about my future, fear of success and failure the classic thought of “what if they don’t like me” always creeps into my head. Read More>>
Maiya Michelle
Throughout my life, I’ve always faced challenges that forced me out of my comfort zone or pushed me through the situation. In all those moments, I’m reminded that I am like clay you are supposed to be stretched and pressed into the person God made you to be. I’m so resilient because I know what I’m capable of I know what God has in store for me, so that’s what keeps me grounded. Being resilient is not an easy thing, honestly, it’s about your mindset at the end of the day and how you handle your thoughts and actions during tribulations. Read More>>
K.T. Tauches
Nature is my well. Whenever I feel challenged or overwhelmed, I go outside and put my feet and hands on the ground. Ive always managed to set up wild garden areas near my studio spaces. Eventhough my current studio is in a dense, intown neighborhood of Atlanta, it’s surrounded by 2 empty lots on either side…I tend both with wildflowers and Herbal Allies…it’s my everyday pleasure to walk and work in those areas. helps me to remember what’s most important in life. Read More>>
Karon Cash
My resilience comes from growing up without a mother and father. Both of my parents were on drugs. Since I was the age of seven until I was 24 years old I grew up in the projects I lived with my grandmother. She is the one who taught me how to do leave and myself be resilient, she always told me that as a man that I will have to pull up my bootstraps and get to Steppin from being molested as a kid being bullied look down on not always having someone to look out for me so I had to look out for myself, so my resilience comes from hard work and determination and just to be a better person and to get out of my current situation Read More>>
Lawre’en Sonier
I would have to give myself that credit. I’ve endured some unimaginable things and times, each time I’d pray, heal, and keep going. No matter what’s happened to me, I just keep going because each time God has been with me and I always came out better than I went in! Read More>>
Mario A. Campanaro
The first thing I think of is that quote from Bob Marley: “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.”
I think we are all born with an innate quality for resilience. In fact, anyone blessed with life, has the natural instinct to be resilient and overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of love, peace, good health and survival. By the nature of our birth, we come from the warm, comfortable, protective, and peaceful environment of our mother’s womb where everything we need is provided for. Then all of the sudden, when nine months is up, we are thrust from that safe haven and pushed through a narrow (and I’m sure quite uncomfortable) passageway into a world of the complete unknown. Read More>>
Tihiau Carter
I get resilience from God and my own given strength. I have to live with me and the decisions I make good and the bad, but I keep pressing forward my purpose. My entire soul has never been settled anywhere I have been in life whether it’s a house,Job or in life period. Sure enough I have had hard times As far as not having no where to stay, transportation issues, support loosing all the support I had known at the time., but I never gave up. My resilience in my spirit would keep going no matter what it looks like I always keep going because that’s what helps mold you and build you into the person you need to become to achieve your goals. Read More>>
Maya Billig
As artists, we live inside a world of harsh “No’s”. There’s often a bit of beginner’s luck that accompanies the beginnings of an endeavor. Then maybe you try it again and it doesn’t quite work out the way you wanted it to. Over time, I found that my career will have cycles of success and failure- such as the cycles of life. To be at peace with this, I remind myself that I am more than my career. My resilience comes in the form of constantly being able to adapt and reinvent myself depending on the circumstances. And perhaps I was also born with a personal constitution that whispers to me “no matter how many no’s you get, find the yes.” Read More>>
Empress Joshett
My resilience comes from within, There is also no choice but to continue forward or you will simply have to just settle in life and that’s not what’s meant for me. We often times compliment others for being strong when in all actuality you have no other choice but to be just that,strong.I come from a family of resilient strong people, who refused to be broken while conquering one challenge at a time and breaking barriers that were unjustly created by society. Resilience is something built after having lost with the ability to persevere and getting back up. This is the energy of a warrior it’s not about winning it’s about getting up and fighting back over and over again. Read More>>
Tsvetelina Mitseva
I was born in Bulgaria and I know a big part of my resilience comes from my heritage. The atrocities endured by my ancestors have ingrained in me the inner strength to always keep going despite the circumstances and to hope for a better tomorrow despite the odds. Another building block has been my own life experiences. My sister and I moved away from our family and friends in our early twenties and our journey as immigrants showed me how to live with very little and still feel content as well as how to adapt and overcome even in the most challenging circumstances. Overall life has been my greatest teacher, shaping my perspective on adversity, while providing valuable lessons and wisdom. Read More>>
Jan Seides
Frankly, I’ve been through enough setbacks now to have figured out that they are temporary. I have learned to just keep putting one foot in front of the other until change occurs. It’s not an easy lesson, and took more than one episode before I caught on, and sometimes I still forget. But those lapses are shorter than they used to be, I’m pleased to report. I have found one or two tricks for getting myself over the hump. One is that I try to imagine how long it will be before I’m telling this experience to someone as a funny story. The other is that I can now remind myself that every good thing that I’ve ever gotten grew directly out of a disaster that I thought was grim at the time. Read More>>
Glenda Freeman
Life is a journey filled with experiences that shape us, and along the way, I discovered the power of resilience. There was a time when I doubted my ability to overcome certain situations, but as I grew older, I realized that tough times are temporary and staying focused on our goals is paramount. Through a myriad of experiences, both positive and negative, I have been drawn closer to my life’s purpose. It is during the storms of life that we truly discover who we are. Resilience becomes our guide, helping us uncover our purpose and navigate the adversities we face. In this story, I share my personal journey of resilience, revealing how cultivating this remarkable quality has empowered me to bounce back, adapt, and grow stronger. Read More>>
Bethany McCamish
Growing up in a tumultuous home, where strict rules and extreme religious beliefs shaped my upbringing, I faced numerous challenges and experienced various forms of abuse. These circumstances could have easily shattered my spirit, but instead, they ignited a fire within me to create a brighter future. Through my journey of self-discovery, I learned to break free from the confines of oppressive traditions and embrace who I truly am. Read More>>
Brady Adam
I believe my resilience comes from being in love with the process of things, loving the “grind” so to speak. Once I started to understand that the things that are difficult or feel like set backs, are actually just things preparing you for what you need to be ready for, it became easier to stay resilient. Read More>>
Doc List
For me, resilience goes hand-in-hand with inspiration. There are times when I start to feel like I haven’t done anything new for a while. Then I look in my art books or on Instagram or play in Midjourney. The imagery I see inspires me to try new things. I’d never make it as a “production” photographer doing volume headshots, for instance, because I would get stale. In addition to looking for inspiration in images I also constantly seek learning, finding new ways of doing things. Whether it’s new features in Photoshop or a different approach to lighting, I’m reinvigorated by opening my mind in new ways. Read More>>
Ravin Goyal
I believe resilience comes from within as it mostly depends on the dedication and love you have for what you are doing. Because if you aren’t motivated or driven enough and excited to do the task you won’t feel the urge to tackle any problem or you won’t feel that anxiety of why am I not able to do it and get motivated by that disappointment and try your best to make it happen. As well as, I agree you have certain sources where you get your resilience from or get inspired from be it your idols or anyone who you have observed while growing up – for me it was basically my family and the atmosphere in my household that helped me shape my resilience since childhood as I always observed how they tackled through problems and with calmness and seniority. Read More>>
Sean Patterson
I learned it’s best to live while time keeps going. I became little reserved and quiet after the death of my father. I didn’t notice it then, but now as an adult, I look back on my experience and realized his death took a toll on me. The reason was because there were very few people that understood what I was going through. On the first day of school being 12 years old and entering into seventh grade, very few people knew my father had passed away because we were on summer break when he passed. I felt like an outcast. For those who did know of father’s passing, their parents were still alive and didn’t understand the pain that I was going through. Read More>>
Richardo Jackson
I believe my resilience comes from my culture, my parents and grandparents. When I think about my ability to withstand or recover from challanges, I think about the impact of my culture and upbringing and the lessons I have learned along the way and how it has enable me to become the person that I am today. Read More>>
Carter Lofton
In the music industry, I feel it is imperative for a person to have some resilience. For me, it started with how I was raised as a child, and then it carried into the rest of my life. I had to develop a sort of workflow habit in order to create music, so this helped as well with being able to stay creative in tough times. Read More>>
Jazmine Valencia
My resilience comes from my desire to always see things through and do the right thing. I’ve been fortunate to travel the world and see many cultures and one thing that has been universal is that the people who are resilient always persevere! Read More>>
Lucas Essman
I want to start by first saying that I think resilience is one of the most important traits to develop in life. Without it, I think things can get pretty dark, pretty fast. When it comes to how I have developed it for myself, it comes down to one simple belief that I hold for myself: nothing can truly stop you, or get in your way, unless you allow it to, that nothing in this world is ever worth allowing yourself to not reach your full potential. I think like many of us, I have been at many points in life where I did feel like giving up, and sometimes if I’m honest, I did for a little bit. Read More>>
Brian Sicurella
I developed resilience from being homeless because I had to persevere through challenging circumstances and constantly adapt to survive. Being homeless taught me to be resourceful, to think creatively, and to never give up. I experienced firsthand the harsh realities of life and the importance of resilience in overcoming adversity. Read More>>
Carson Lee Bradshaw
I’d have to say that it’s sheer knowledge that if I don’t work, I won’t make it in life. It’s a simple as that. Being an adult is to be resilient . I’m an actress, writer and singer songwriter. I also have a remote job that I focus on 9 to 5 each day. It’s exciting because I have a stable career along with being able to focus on my artistic work as well. I am about to wrap post production on a feature film. Read More>>
