We’ve shared some incredible stories of resilience below that we hope will help you on your journey towards building up your resilience.
Kim Wagner Nolan
I think the recipe for my resilience is a mixture of strength from God, my upbringing, and my life circumstances. According to my mother, I was born with an extra dose of determination. Playing sports also helped mold me into a physically and mentally tough person. If I got knocked down on the soccer field, I always got back up and kept going. I learned from an early age to face problems head-on, but my resilience was cultivated over time. Read more>>
Angela Enwezor
As a self-taught fashion designer and second-generation entrepreneur, my resilience comes from a combination of personal drive, passion for my craft, and the lessons I’ve learned from my entrepreneurial mom background. Here are a few factors that contribute to my resilience: Read more>>
Prentice Ahmad
When I was a child, I experienced a lot of life. From walking during Hurricane Andrew, to constantly moving. I learned through all of life’s woes that no matter what, you have to keep going. My mother is the epitome of resilience. She never stopped when I was a child. Therefore, it was only fitting that I learned how to be the exact same way. Read more>>
Diamond Polk
My resilience, it’s really a product of my unique journey and identity. First and foremost, it’s deeply rooted in my culture and upbringing in Compton. I learned early on the importance of resilience and witnessed the strength and resilience of my community. Read more>>
Karneshia Shantel
I believe that I get my resilience from my upbringing. My parents instilled a strong mindset in me at a young age. Early on they taught me that I needed to be able to take care of myself and not rely so heavily on others because someone might not always be there. That in itself taught me resilience to be able to face anything thrown at me. I went through summer camps and countless hours of independence training. Read more>>
Shiva Negar
You know, I couldn’t tell your for sure but I believe I get it from my mom. And I think my life journey as an immigrant only added to my resilience. My mother made a very difficult choice when she was living in Iran, to leave the life she knew behind, in order to give me and my sister a better life. She did just that! I was 7 years old at the time when we left Iran and migrated to Turkey and 4.5 years later to Canada. I then moved to US by myself later on. Read more>>
Vienne Brown
I draw my resilience from a combination of factors, with my upbringing being a significant influence. As the oldest daughter in an immigrant family, I witnessed firsthand the incredible determination and work ethic of my parents. When we first arrived, I didn’t speak English, and my parents had to start their careers from scratch. Their relentless pursuit of a better life and their willingness to face challenges head-on left an indelible mark on me. Read more>>
Langley McArol
I definitely got my resilience from my mother. I won’t go into the history of her life before I was born, but I think she had to be resilient her whole life. Which came in handy when it came to raising me. She was a single parent at an age that was considered at that time to be late in life. Read more>>
Kendell Ryan
My resilience comes from a combination of both my mother and God. Growing up I witnessed a lot. Hardships, dysfunction, success and downfall, the ups & downs of running a business you name it i’ve experienced it. A lot of which I experienced side by side with my mom and through it all she never wavered, or gave up she rose above so much and continues to do so with grace and I try to embody that level of strength and resilience everyday of life. Read more>>
Dana Kippel
I have faced so much rejection in this field. From people telling me I should go to film school instead of making my first film to giving me script notes that change my entire idea, I have always felt misunderstood. Instead of letting these people change me or give up, I stick to my unique perspective because that is all I have. Hollywood will try to change you. Don’t take it personal. Read more>>
Tyrone Webb Jr.
My first exposure to resilience was coming out to my parents while in college. I didn’t know whether I was going to be accepted as the first-openly gay Black man in our family, and only son. My father took my journey well but not my mother. Over the course of time, I had to learn to walk in my authenticity and work through my relationship with my mother where we are inseparable. Read more>>
Scott Barrier
Interesting question. I come from a tough upbringing dealing with some childhood abuse, and once I survived that I figured I could survive anything, I didn’t realize it was making me tougher than I realized to be able to deal with harder situations in life. Also, during all that I found that music gave me hope and was my saving grace. So, from that I developed a deep passion and love for music early on and decided at one point I wanted that to be my life. Read more>>
Altesse Aurum
I find that joining the military is the reason I am the most resilient I have become. At first, with the pressure of being queer in 2013 I joined recently after “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed. I knew going into the military I would have eyes on whether I could stand to the occasion and do well. A few years into the military I deployed to Afghanistan, and after a suicide bomber on base. Read more>>
Katrina Armstrong
Growing up I never saw my mother take no for an answer. She never “cried over spilled milk”, as she would say. I watched her get to work on plan b and c as soon as plan a didn’t work out. This is all I know. I’m a professional at this point, before a is even completed I already have b and c in the works. Bouncing back and not letting things completely break me is one of the best things my mom ever displayed and instilled in me. Read more>>
Sean Anthony
I went through a lot as a kid and well into my teenage years. It was extremely hard to understand who I was and even harder to understand that I was different. There were so many variables that affected my happiness and I was forced to be around them. This led me to develop self-hatred and self blame at a level no child should experience. Read more>>
Destineé Spruell
First, I would have to give honor to God. I, honestly, don’t know where I would be without my God. Next, I would have to give a shoutout to my family and friends who’ve stuck by my side through everything. Everyday is a constant battle to just make myself get up. If you don’t know, I am a Hidradenitis Suppurativa warrior and it takes levels of strength, determination, and resilience that many will never begin to fathom. Read more>>
Courts Griner
A major part of my resilience comes from being the sole owner of my photography business. There are no sick days, no others to take my spot or anyone to call in for back up. Regardless of the photography job, I am a wearer of many hats. The highs and lows of this job depend on me and me alone. Read more>>
Diego Torres-Palma
My family and I moved to this country when I was very young. I saw my mother have to learn the language and go from cleaning houses to working her way up the ladder to new opportunities. When it comes to resilience it’s very clear to me that I’ll never have the challenge of moving to a foreign place with two children and have to start a completely new life. For me when times when challenging it has a way of shifting the perspective from what it means for something to be difficult. Read more>>
Sequoia Watson
I get my resilience from my testimony and story. Almost 3 years I was given and chose that I didn’t ask for by a loved one at the time who was HIV positive and failed to inform me. When I got the news a year after we had been intimate it shook my world upside down and I honestly thought my life was over. I prayed and cried out to God that he would make a drastic turnaround but it didn’t happen in my favor. Read more>>
Carl White III
Resilience, to me, is a product of both personal experiences and a deep-rooted passion for what I do. Growing up, I faced various challenges that required me to adapt and overcome. These experiences instilled in me a sense of determination and the will to persist in the face of adversity. Read more>>
Huey Rawls
That’s a good one. My faith has carried me through so many battles both internally and externally. The word creator or creative gets thrown around a lot these days. You can be creative in the way you problem solve or the way you dissect certain situations. You can be creative or resilient with the way you cope with stress or deal with certain emotions. You learn to use that hurt, that pain, to create more art. Read more>>
Erika Anderson
My resilience is honestly a byproduct of a lifetime of anxiety. As a child I had no idea that I was feeling other peoples feelings- living the life of a highly sensitive person, essentially an empath without training or awareness. It carried from young childhood all the way into adulthood. Honestly, anxiety ran the show internally and became the director of my life externally. Read more>>
Christina Rogers
I was thrown into entrepreneurship after I decided to leave a serving job and I had no idea what I was doing. I think being in a space where I know nothing about the operation helped to break and mold me at the same time. I’ve always kept my goal at the forefront of everything that I’ve done, so I was able to build resilience from each failure in order to create a better future. Read more>>
Scott Thomas
It’s interesting to me that I had never given the topic of resilience much thought until recently. Now that I sit here considering what that means to me and how I have come to rely on it, I am finding it to be the common thread that passes through the trials in my life. There are many admirable traits written about on this platform with a great deal of insight and wisdom. Read more>>
Bondie Metchore
I love this question because in my opinion one of the most important skills that we can develop in life is the ability to roll with the punches and get back up as many times as necessary. Life is full of changes and curve balls and things that change everything can happen in an instant. Read more>>
Brandon Holland
My Resilience came from just wanting to feel proud of something in my life. I haven’t always known how to be the best version of myself. As you get older you learn that life is about choices.Life taught me resilience, at one point it felt like I was born with a target on my back. Everything seem like a loss and even some days being in entertainment now it feels that way some days. Read more>>
Cassie Keet
There’s something very emboldening about not being the person who gets picked. Read more>>
Dee Reed
I get my resilience from always having to be that strong person that has had more difficult situations than an average person could handle. I have taken every tough situation and came out bigger and better every single time. Tough times don’t last always…is my MOTTO! Read more>>
Kash Edwards
I get my resilience from my life experiences as a young athlete as well as my cultural upbringing. As an athlete you’re taught to never stay defeated. My coach would always say, “the best play is the next play”, meaning even when you messed up, you still have the next possession to make up for it. I took those words to heart and apply them to my everyday life. My cultural upbringing also played a huge part in my resilience. Read more>>
Ce Ce Chin
Ah resilience, it’s an essential characteristic and also a practice! My mother always emphasized “stick to it-ness” when I was a kid, and she meant that one needs to “stick to it” in order to see results. This discussion came up when I was doing dance as a kid, and faced challenges with learning techniques and routines. Also this came up with studying for exams and writing college essays. Read more>>
Shreyas Ayaluri
I wonder the same thing all the time, and every time I come back to the same answer. I worked hard to come to this country, study and now work here, and I won’t stop until I see my words take the shape of full blown studio movie, and then some. Read more>>
Jason B. Allen
Resilience I believe is something taught through experience, modeling and training. I attribute my resilience to my family. My great great grandparents and great grandparents played a very influential role in my life. One being they all lived long lives and shared the their stories and experiences of our ancestors. These stories and lessons play a major role in my resilience. Read more>>
Christopher Roberts
My first “big” professional job in entertainment was as a member of the ensemble in a broadway show in NY. It was the big show that season that everyone anticipated would run for years and years and provide financial security for all of us lucky enough to be a part of it. We posted our closing notice right after the Tony Awards… 5 months after we opened. Back to square one!. Read more>>
B Alan BOURGEOIS
As an author advocate, I have seen a great deal of changes in the publishing world in the last 20 years, and many more are on the horizon. The number of changes for someone new to being a writer/author has little to no effect. But, for me, it is challenging to keep up to date with all the changes, it can be exhausting. Read more>>
Sarah Rhino
Hard work comes from a slew of failures and successes. The Peach Pit was created in 2015 with the idea to do better and serve more people in a boutique gymnastics environment. When you have the ability to think differently and really listen to the needs of your clients and team, you have the ability to truly give back! Read more>>
