We’ve shared some incredible stories of resilience below that we hope will help you on your journey towards building up your resilience.
Kia Billinger
My resilience comes from a combination of things that I’ve learned over the years. Watching how resilient my parents are, taught me how to be the same way. God and lots of prayer are how I get through so many tough times. I always joke about how my strength ran out years ago, but to be transparent, the only strength I’m running on now is the strength from God. Life will always throw you a curve ball, and at times you may feel like an entire mountain is sitting on your chest. I realized years ago that I needed to make a choice about how I wanted to live my life. I decided to keep going and to choose to be happy. I turned my pain (and there’s A LOT of it) into purpose, my sadness into joy, my fear into faith, and always know that with God, I can do ALL things. Read more>>
Monique Higginson
I was raised by a drug addicted mother and stepfather that were just not able to really help me thrive. I took myself to school, fed myself, did my homework, etc all on my own until I was twelve. I just knew that if I wanted to make it in life I would have to be resilient. Read more>>
Richard Simms
I think that building resilience has to be an ongoing and deliberate practice, especially for entrepreneurs. Some folks have a natural resilience and unwavering confidence or optimism. I am not one of those people, so I’ve certainly had to work at building up a thicker skin and seeing challenges as a part of the journey. Read more>>
Celia Reynolds
I get my resilience from the word of God . When I was younger I would here my parents say If you want it bad enough you have to take it to God, listen to him ,and then let God order your steps according to his will. If it is in the will of God ,then you may fail ,but you will get back up proceed with caution and do it again. Resilience is necessary if you intend to make it in your field . Everything I have achieved in my life is ,because of God allowing me to press through in some of the most difficult situations. He always made a way out of no way . Read more>>
Dr. Tomeeka Bean
Hello, and thank you for having me today. It’s a pleasure to share my insights with your readers. Let’s delve into resilience – a topic close to my heart.
My resilience is deeply rooted in the invaluable lessons life has taught me, the numerous hurdles I’ve faced head-on, and my unyielding determination to not just survive but thrive in the face of adversity. Read more>>
Khara Lord
I’ve been in the music industry as an artist and songwriter for over a decade now. There are a lot of moments when you start to lose faith in yourself and let moments of loss discourage you. Then the wins follow the losses and it rebuilds your confidence and faith in what you know you’ve always been designed to do. After my son was diagnosed with autism 5 years ago I wasn’t prepared for the road ahead. Through determination, never ending love , dedication and Grit I realized that I’ve been built and prepped for resilience my entire life. The two journeys, music and autism sharped my resilience and taught me to never give up or lose faith. Read more>>
Pam White
For me, the key to being resilient is to never let self doubt enter my mind. There is so much I want to paint and so many mediums and ideas I’d like to try that I simply don’t have time to question myself. Im only on this earth a short time, I’d like to do as much good with this time as I can. Read more>>
Robbie Kaye
I believe that resilience comes from practice…the practice of getting up every time I get knocked down. With time, it gets easier and also, the more practice, the less times I fall down. I read books that help, reach out to friends and gurus that help me stand up after a fall and every time they help me, I put those tools in a box so I’m better prepared to pick myself up the next time. Read more>>
Diana Nguyen
Whenever someone asks me, “Where do you get your resilience from?” I don’t have to look far. My story of resilience is intertwined with the tales of the incredible women who came before me. It’s a tapestry woven with courage, determination, and an unwavering belief in oneself. Read more>>
Chris McWatters
I tried a lot of hard tasks over the years. I did some of them really well. I floundered at other things. I got pretty torn up by some of those experiences (physically and mentally). But I always made myself finish them. As I look back, I realize that things that once seemed big and scary, now feel small and substantially less harmful. I don’t think I’m invincible by any means, that’s for sure. But, I do see that I’m not scared to try hard things anymore. A big part of who I am has been sculpted by those really hard moments. So, when I’m in the middle of a fire storm, I certainly don’t enjoy it. But I find myself being okay with those moments because I know something good will come from it. A better version of myself. A new perspective. And each time I get to the other side of that hard task or trying time, I spend a little time reflecting and immediately looking for what to take away from it. I can do that instantaneously now, because I’ve practiced it so many times. Read more>>
Myra Harris
Who knew that June 9, 2020, would forever change my life? On that day, I was diagnosed with Stage 2B – Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (Breast Cancer). Unfortunately, at the beginning of March 2020, I experienced blood leaking from my right breast, which I knew was abnormal. However, because of the Covid-19 epidemic, I could not be seen in house by my OB/GYN, even though I updated him regularly on my status. The bleeding lasted for almost three weeks before it completely stopped. Then, I started feeling a lump in my right breast and it was not going away. Even though I have had cystic breasts since being a teenager and multiple benign cysts and tumors removed from both breasts – this lump felt different and was very painful. Read more>>
Tanny Diep
I am very fortunate to have strong female role models in my life who have endured devastating struggles yet still carried on and held their heads up high. The first one is my mother. She left her family behind in Vietnam and moved to a foreign country (USA) with my father and two young children, (I was one of them.) My father was a Vietnam War veteran and struggled with alcoholism, depression, and PTSD. My mother worked extremely hard to learn a new language and profession to help take care of our family, and grandparents. After two years in the states, she became pregnant with my younger sister and had her third child. Both of our parents worked, earning little to nothing and all 5 of us shared a room in our grandparent’s house. Read more>>
Amber Morris
My resilience comes from my village. I have some amazing people around me in my life and they stand beside me every step of the way! Through the difficult obstacles that have crossed my path do not match the love and great energy that surrounds me from my family and friends! Read more>>
Daphne Subar
My resilience was tested during the COVID-19 pandemic when the unimaginable happened and my daughter was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. As a mother of three daughters, a wife, and the founder of Subarzsweets, this chapter of my life transformed into an unwritten narrative of determination, resilience, and the enduring power of love. Read more>>
Maiana Rose
When I contemplate the concept of “resilience,” I could most immediately bring to mind my grandmother’s family who escaped the holocaust, and found the strength and resilience to continue on with their lives and start over in New York in spite of having lost so much. (And my heart goes out to Israel, and any innocent lives being taken in Israel and Palestine right now.
However in all honesty, the word brings to mind a specific memory from a yoga class where the instructor shared her words of wisdom with her students: “The goal of life isn’t to be happy all the time; the goal is to become resilient. Read more>>
Andre Ezeugwu
My resilience draws from diverse personal attributes, life lessons, and deliberate approaches. These include my optimistic outlook, the strength of my relationships and support networks, the coping mechanisms I’ve honed, the continuous growth in my professional journey, my unwavering commitment to values and ethics, adaptability to changing circumstances, laser-focused determination to achieve goals, a relentless appetite for learning, and a finely tuned sense of emotional intelligence. These elements give me the fortitude and unwavering resolve to confront challenges and emerge stronger. Read more>>
Natalie Kahn
The road to creating, planning and launching my own small business has not been a completely smooth one. It is difficult to start a brand new small business at any time. However, doing it as a newly turned 14 year old, and in the middle of a Global Pandemic, brought its own challenges. I have had to learn to be patient with shipping, with making and sticking to budgets, with running my social media accounts, all while still being a teen and a freshman in high school. Read more>>
Anna So
I draw my strength and resilience from an incredible source – my mother. Growing up, my family and I faced unimaginable challenges as we endured the Cambodia civil war in the mid-1970s. In those turbulent times, my mother emerged as our unwavering leader for our family. Read more>>
Courtney Ormond & Leszek Garwacki
It isn’t an option for us to quit. We believe in our work and what we have built. When you love what you do and how you get to do it, you fight for it. The bigger challenge is maneuvering through the journey and deciding how and what road to take, but Leszek, my husband and business partner, and I are very lucky that we get to take the road together. Read more>>
Ashley Johnson
I believe I get my resilience from overcoming struggles as a teenager. My family and I experienced homelessness for a 2 year period. We lived in various shelters and my mom’s friends. Now, I try to do what I can to give back and possibly help someone that is in the same situation. Read more>>
Kreshonna Keane
I believe my resilience ultimately stems from how I was raised. I was always taught to learn from failure as opposed to letting it define me or break me down. Whether it was creatively, academically, professionally, or even mentally/emotionally, I learned to pick myself up and bounce back after every “low” and/or failure and use the lessons I learned as fuel. There are so many times where I feel like I’m not good enough or like I’m not where I want to be as a creative. However, over the years I’ve learned that the time I take to step back and look inward, no matter how long it takes, helps me bounce back stronger each time. I lean on my resilience because I know my strength and what I’m capable of. Read more>>
Michele Barard
I have to be frank with you. I am not at all sure what combination of things came together to make me so resilient. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say it starts with growing up when I did – in the last real era of latchkey kids in the United States. There are lots of jokes about Gen X being unique; I agree with that. We’re the last generation to have physical freedom and responsibility for ourselves at young ages. That means we got bumped around more at younger ages and learned lots of lessons as a result. We learned that we were strong, intelligent, and capable of resolving our problems because we were given the space to have unsupervised experiences. Not all of those experiences were good, but they all gave us the chance to grow. Read more>>
Dr. Sasha Johnson
My resilience is fueled by the profound impact I have on the community. One of the most rewarding experiences is witnessing and supporting individuals during difficult and trying moments. It’s truly inspiring to observe people persisting through adversity, driven by motivation, and refusing to surrender when faced with challenges. Being a source of motivation for others fortifies my resilience, and it’s a beautiful thing to experience. Read more>>
Chanitra Dreher
I think a lot my resilience comes from watching my grandparents. My grandfather would keep going no matter what he was feeling emotionally or no matter the ailment he was going through. I have the mentality to just keep going. Why stop in the middle of the storm, and get stuck rather than travel through it and get out. The moment you stop, it takes a lot more to start over than it would have to keep going and finish. I try to not let my emotions get in the way of what needs to be done. Yes I cry, yes I get upset, I’m human, but I cry and keep going. We cannot go back in the past, we can only hope to improve our future with the lessons we have learned along the way. Read more>>
Deanna Wells-Rohm
Growing up my parents always preached to me to work hard but to be honest life was pretty easy for me. My siblings and I grew up in a working middle class family and even though we had our challenges my parents provided a decent foundation for me to grow from. It wasn’t until I became a teenage mother, I quickly realized that life was not rainbows and sunshine. When I became pregnant at 18 I was on my way to the army. I had to choose between continuing the pregnancy or not so I could leave for basic training. This is when reality set in that I was not a little girl anymore. I was advised by people close to me to terminate the pregnancy but I decided not to. I remember praying to God to help me and give me strength. Being a young mom was not easy but God honored my prayers and made me resilient. Read more>>
Trey McRae
Many times you don’t know you are resilient until you are faced with some form of adversity, but from as far back as I can remember I have always had high self esteem and always had somewhat of a chip on my shoulder. I think part of that stems from being teased as a kid for being very dark skinned. I would get teased in the beginning by my family for being the darkest person in the family. Then when I went to public school it was 10 times worse. I would constantly be called blacky, tar baby, spook, crispy etc. I’m not gonna say these insults didn’t bother me but in the back of my head I always felt like the people cracking the jokes couldn’t compete with me in anything that mattered to me. Either my grades were much higher than theirs or I was physically bigger than them and they couldnt beat me in a fight. So as I got older being resilient just became second nature to me. I always felt like my discipline and work ethic could protect me from any set backs or negative situations. Focusing on your goals and not being scared to compete definitely helps with being resilient Read more>>
Silas Mwenda
I get my resilience from going back to the drawing board and constantly reminding myself the WHY.You know many are the times life will bring those moments to you but regardless of how bad a situation look like I’ve always learnt to take time and constantly remind myself WHY I started what am doing then my hopes feels alive again,I feel instantly renewed inwardly and outwardly.I always try to be positive,pray,surround myself with happy positive people who will encourage me, mentor me,,rebuke and correct me.I also listen to uplifting messages and podcasts,smile,laugh and work on my inner muscle and it has helped me greatly.Most of my friends say am always happy and wonder if I ever get those moments.My joy is intentional!My joy is permanent!My joy is my resistance!. Read more>>
Dr. Rachel DuPaul
Though I am not unique in that I am a human who has gone through trials and tribulations, the cliche of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” holds true for me. From a young age, I struggled with uncommon medical issues resulting in feeling “different from” and “less than” my peers. In order to compensate for these feelings, I worked longer and harder than my peers in order to feel I was even on the same playing field. This held true all through my academics, resulting in a desire to get the highest degree possible – a PhD. It’s almost like I needed to prove it to myself that I wasn’t anything but “normal”. Though the feelings of unfairness were present occasionally, and I had plenty of struggle, my stubbornness to overcome and prove to myself and others that I am capable kept me pushing forward. This grit is now what I lean on day-in-and-day-out as an entrepreneur. I know I can be successful because I have shown up for myself before. The unfortunate reality about being resilient is that you have already gone through sh*t. The benefit is, with the right mindset, you can be a force to be reckoned with and that is awesome. Read more>>
Kiandra Jefferson
My journey as a business owner in the hair care industry was a testament to resilience, born from a deep connection to my roots, my love for hair, and an unwavering commitment to my community. My fascination with hair care began in my childhood. I would sit on the porch at my grandmother’s house, surrounded by the rich scents of herbs and oils, as the women in my family shared stories while they braided, twisted, and styled each other’s hair. These moments were more than just grooming; they were rituals of love, history, and cultural identity. Read more>>
Candy De Bord Hoke
I would say from overcoming a lot of difficulties in my childhood, into my young adult life. I didn’t always have this mindset, but I did always want to choose to see the better side of any bad situation. My parents were both alcoholics, who died in their 50’s…and yes it was from alcohol, but really it was the mindset they both had about life. They always thought they were suffering, which then brought on more suffering. At some point I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and my situation and choose to see the positive in almost anything. I had a sister that passed away when I was 12 and of course it was devastating…but 6 or 7 years later I was able to look at that time and recognize that the event made me take a different path and not follow her footsteps and now I am where I am today because of it. It’s situations like that, that I have been able to climb out of the suffering and find growth. Life is a lesson, and I alway have to recognize that lesson so that I can grow stronger to move forward. Read more>>
Cornella Lee
My resilience came from being a mother at the tender age of 15 of not one but two children. (Yes twins) See back in 1995 having children that young was not as supported like it is today. Back in 1995 you were looked at as that fast tail girl. It was an uncomfortable moment for my mother and family to deal with. Read more>>
Sarah Thompson
I get my resilience from two sources. The first was gifted to me from my mother. Growing up I watched her faced with challenges that might topple someone else and yet she met them with grace and even love. What an inspiration! My second teacher of resilience came to me through my time as a professional dancer. That career requires that you are present every day in mind, body and spirit. Each day and each run-through you strive to refine and make your work even better than it was the last time. This is a practice and state of being that stays with me to today. Read more>>
Carolina De Athey
Wow, I think resilience it’s such a key quality an artist needs to have in their tool box. We work in a super hardcore environment and there is so much that is always expected from us but at the same time we are dealing with rejection daily. So it’s like you are always trying the hardest but most of the time that won’t pay off, not immediately. Actors, music artists, models need to be resilient or else we end up getting negatively affected. In my opinion it’s a survival tool! Of course it’s easier said than done and how resilient one can be has to do with the source where it comes from. My resilience comes from my faith and a deeper understanding of our purpose in life. When you know you have purpose you start seeing the world differently and you start understanding the journey and how important it is to strive for joy. Read more>>
Karen Ollis
My resilience comes for continuing to create and adapting to shifting energies. That has helped me maintain a career for several decades while navigating tremendous technical and economical change. I have always had a dual pathway, one in Commercial-marketing photography and the other in Fine Art Photography. Read more>>
Sami Cooper
I grew up in the restaurant industry and from that early experience with entrepreneurial parents instilled the concept of resilience. I think in order to be in this business, you must be and remain flexible. Creating and maintaining a business is a long game and knowing that helps me roll with the punches. Read more>>
