Stories & Perspectives on Resilience Building

We’ve shared some incredible stories of resilience below that we hope will help you on your journey towards building up your resilience.

Guanjiao(Summer) Long

Resilience, to me, signifies a wealth of experience gained through overcoming failures. These challenging times offer a unique perspective—a chance to find calmness and the knowledge to navigate through difficulties. Consequently, what was once a failure transforms into a stepping stone in my journey of resilience.  Read more>>

Be’n Original

I would say that half of it comes from my childhood. Mental toughness was developed out of necessity. I have always been a dreamer and my dreams were rarely practical to the non-creatives around me. I developed a great sense of belief in myself. My time as a soldier, especially during Operation Desert Storm, only reinforced my perseverance. The only thing that can stop me is me. Read more>>

Dominique Mitchell

I get my resilience from my mother and father.. Watching my mom hustle and never give up despite not so favorable circumstances definitely was a key part of my early programming.. When i lived with my father he would always talk to me about how important the fourth quarter was.. as a teenager this only related to football.. I amm now 31 and i understand now the programming that he was doing, and i believe it to be intentional so I am grateful for that. Read more>>

Alisa Apps

In the kaleidoscopic world of music and artistry, it’s rare to find a talent that not only breaks the mold but shatters it with the force of a knockout punch. Enter Alisa Apps, known in the circles of both music and boxing as The Queenpin. This artist, boxer, and unapologetic trailblazer is not just singing her way into the hearts of millions; she’s fighting tooth and nail to leave a mark that’s uniquely hers. Read more>>

Mina Miusius

I draw my resilience from my grandmother’s experiences enduring a civil war during her childhood. Additionally, as an immigrant facing challenges in the U.S. and overcoming domestic abuse, these adversities have shaped my resilience and determination. Read more>>

Eileen Koval

For me, resilience comes from shifting perspective of unwanted situations to focus on what I can control. Like many people, I have faced challenges in life. Overcoming repeated challenges creates a predictability that these things will eventually pass. However, I find strength in taking a birds-eye view of situations. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and trapped in unwanted situations, feeling smothered like there is no personal control.  Read more>>

Brandi McCurdy

When I think about how I’ve become such a resilient person, I begin to think about all the obstacles I’ve had to overcome in life. Life has a way of making you sink or swim and only the strong will survive. From an early age I was taught to be resilient without even knowing it was a thing to be. I love that for me because believing that everything happens for a reason, I know that I’ve been molded for the highs and lows of this thing called “life”. “Resilience” the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties, toughness. Showing perseverance when life throws you lemons has helped me remain resilient with all my endeavors. Even when things don’t turn out the way I’ve planned I’ve got to muster up enough strength to keep pushing and not give up Read more>>

Ariel Moradzadeh

My parents and grandparents. They fled Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution in 1979. They came to America, without knowing the language. They pursued an education, created businesses and built a life for themselves, me and my siblings. Seeing my parents and their resilience in the face of financial and emotional hardships, galvanized my determination, willpower and discipline. Read more>>

Sydney Guan

Growing up as the daughter of a military service member required a lot of versatility and adaptability. Through my youth, I moved several times, adjusting to new schools and environments. Though as a kid I hated it so much, I’ve learned to appreciate how much it shaped me when it comes to being resilient and overcoming obstacles with a little blind optimism and a lot of thinking outside of the box. Read more>>

Xinyue Wu

I believe the essence of life lies in experiences, even those that are difficult or painful, as they contribute to our progress. An event from my childhood profoundly shaped this belief. Once, I was technically unqualified for a competition, but due to a misunderstanding of the rules by my teacher, I was brought along anyway.  Read more>>

Bryan Tucker

Honestly speaking, I would say that my resilience come from a place of fear. Growing up their was always this sense of high expectation. As a kid i never wanted to disappoint my family, so i strived to be the best at everything i could be. I would also say that Genes have part to play in it as well. considering my family are a jack of all trades, and i am the pillar of my family. Read more>>

Jack Stewart

During my twenty-three-year career in the military, I faced many challenges that required resilience. Some of that resilience was instilled in me by my family and some was learned through training, but it requires constant vigilance to ensure I am ready to face the next challenge. For me, I focus on the four pillars of resilience as taught by my friend and mentor, Chad Robichaux – Mind, Body, Social, and Spirit. Read more>>

Jorge Perez

My resilience has grown through my openness to feeling things, even those unpleasant, deeply and by welcoming the inevitability of failure to transmute in a personal or creative direction. I reflect on a show that did not unravel as anticipated and shockingly received a lot of love in return, which really brought me full circle to understanding this was my family.  Read more>>

Shauntia Dyson

I have to thank my mom for my resilience. She and my dad divorced when I was really young, leaving her to be a single mom. While it was just the two of us, I saw her make sacrifices and place herself on the back burner to make sure that I was taken care of. Even when we faced different challenges such as not having enough money for bills, or having to accept government assistance for period of time, she never stopped pressing forward or having big dreams.  Read more>>

Marvin Bonheur

I think my resilience comes from my childhood, when you are born as a black man in a white country which favors the color and cultural codes of bourgeois backgrounds you have to fight and prove all the time, I have always found that unfair and I have been angry for a long time but responding with thoughtless violence does not achieve anything concrete, so I had to find other ways to combat these injustices. Read more>>

Kasey Render

I get my resilience from God and simply living life. By nature I am a very tough and competitive person based on my upbringing .Playing competitive sports and being in a rigorous academic program has trained me to continue to persevere through any struggle. Read more>>

ZERINA HUTCHINSON

I truly owe my resilience to watching my parents as a child. I was born in Bosnia & Herzegovina and when I was just two years old, the war broke out and displaced so many of our family, including my parents, brother and I. Throughout my childhood we moved around from refugee camps to different countries and back. We came to the U.S. in 2001 when I was 11 and through all the uprooting and stress, my parents always came out on the other side to make sure things were stable for us. Read more>>

Anke Bodack

I feel my resilience starts deeply in fulfilling my life’s purpose, with hosting and caring for my guests well being. That is my biggest pillar. Then I have my self care tools which I feel have continuously improved. I have a great routine now of taking very slow mornings, with a Coffe, journaling & meditation. Since I work most days, I am putting my self care as the highest priority and mark my calendar with 5-6 times yoga and steam room. Read more>>

Patrick Chidiebube Ozuma

Studying the lives of successful artists and drawing inspiration from their resilience is a powerful way to cultivate mine. Learning from their experiences and seeing how they overcome challenges provided valuable insights and motivation for my own journey. I have worked as a studio assistant to artist like Dotun Popoola and Jonathan Imafidor. And whenever I’m overwhelmed, I revert to how they did it. Read more>>

Jacklord Tomas

My resilience is derived from being alive , confronted with many extreme challenges but my fascination with life itself always comes out on top. I ve been confronted with loss, yet I embrace them and accept them to push forward hoping for resolution so my life can be as beautiful as I wish.  Read more>>

Kofi Oduro

The resilience comes from the flow that is around The flow that is within and the flow that has yet to be. It comes from understanding there is no one path that is automatic. Where every step taken is one that is authentic. To my being, influencing what I think daily. Daily ambitions that are an ever growing ceiling. That feed into my thoughts and feelings. The belief, the thought processes. Merge with the depth of life. To migrate the presence of the progress. That intertwines further into space. Pace, places. That is what is the movement for this phase. Read more>>

Natalie Sady

When I was younger I didn’t realise I was resilient or strong. I actually thought of myself as being quite weak. As a child I had a hard time. I didn’t seem to fit in anywhere and my childhood felt different to the childhood I was watching my sisters live. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t act like them, I couldn’t think like them and I couldn’t elicit the same responses from those around me as they would. Read more>>

Benjamin Merz

Life is beautiful. The feeling of getting out of a bad situation is one of the best feelings I know. Even though the situation may feel really bad in the moment, I know in the meantime that I can handle it. I’ll get through it. Because I love life. Read more>>

Maria Arteaga

My father has played an immensely influential role in my life. His journey to the United States was driven by a deep commitment to support his family and pave the way for a brighter future for his children. Thanks to President Reagan’s immigration policies at the time, my father obtained permanent residency, a pivotal moment in our family’s history. Read more>>

Aileena Gallego

I look at life as if it’s not happening to me but for me. I always question where hardships are leading me with optimism. I know as long as I keep going it will work out, the end is just a new beginning. If I’ve done it before I can do it again. Read more>>

Karen Ouzts

Resilience. It’s a quality that is necessary for success. How is best defined though? I think, for me, resilience comes from knowing that there is no other option than moving forward, no matter what challenges I might face. Quitting, stopping, pausing, they all constantly go through my head, but they never reach my heart. I began January 2020 with a negative balance in my business account. I refinanced my car to cover the next few month’s expenses. Read more>>

Maryaam Lewis-Herbert

I get my resilience from my parents! My mom and dad are such hardworking individuals. They painted the landscape and paved the way for me to embrace a diligent and tenacious approach to my work. Read more>>

Yey Hernandez

I get my resilience from my family and overarching community. Over the years, my 25-year-old daughter “Yasmin” has inspired me to follow my intuition—and to do the right thing, no matter what other people may think. She’s kind and strong-willed, and I learn so much from her. She reminds me of my mother in many ways, who taught me that I could achieve my goals so long as I put in the work needed to succeed.  Read more>>

Jerry Grimes

My resilience is the product of an intersection of the lessons I learned from my parents and the type of life I envisioned for myself. My mother and father required me to read and produce a sizeable book report every week of every summer from the time I began third grade until I began high school. I initially resented the effort required to go to the library every week and produce a detailed report of its contents.  Read more>>

Rachel Swigart

I’d have to say I mostly get my resilience from the trial and error of life experience haha. But my mountain upbringing as well as having been involved heavily in the church and missions when I was younger also all contributed. There were countless overseas trips or situations that I had to navigate and overcome (usually on my own) which really primed me for the habit of resilience. Read more>>

Emmanuel Petit-Homme

My resilience came from two amazing people in my life and that’s my mom and dad. Growing up I saw strength like I’ve never seen before from those two, it’s one of the reasons Hulk is my favorite hero of all time lol. Giving up was never an option for those two and it poured down on me as their last-born child.  Read more>>

SEAN AEON

In LA on LSD, one of the original explored philosophies of Aeonilism is Authorist Futurism, which encapsulates vision, invention, and firmness. This philosophy also includes another concept, The Journey of Genesis, which states, “Paths of the deepest passion, purpose, and alignment are discovered by first pursuing current personal progressive paradigms. No direction is arbitrary.” The path we plan to take leading to the path we need. Read more>>

Kara Self

A resilient person is one that is able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions, by definition. Where does this trait come from? In my case, it comes from my past experiences, present situations, and future ambitions. Your past dictates characteristics that define your core. While many of my experiences in childhood were awesome and fulfilling, there were times that I felt neglected and abandoned.  Read more>>

Lindzell Rhodes, M. Ed

I get my resilience from enduring trials & tribulations. Coming out of high school in 2011, I didn’t have any football scholarships, so I took the leap of faith & went to a school in Palm Desert, CA called College of the Desert, which is 28 hours from my hometown, Ama,LA which is in the New Orleans area. I went there not knowing I was a Division 1 qualifier & ended up being a two-year starter.  Read more>>

Renée Westbrook

I get my resilience from my love of sports. I’m very competitive and love to find my way around obstacles that lead to stealing home base or winning a tennis match with smash volley that just stayed inside the line. Life will throw you every kind of curve ball you can imagine and in my mind I’m going to win. No matter what. Read more>>