Resiliency is a process not a point.

So often in coming back from a rough patch, you want life to begin anew on your timetable. You make a decision to move forward, but true resiliency or your “bend strength” is shaped over time and not in the today. Resiliency is a process not a point. 

Your true grit is formed in incremental micro-millimeters not barreling through the miles. Some days it is almost more than you can handle to just get upright and pointed in the right direction. Other days you eagerly zip through your to-dos and get-done-nows. Some days you jostle between grand accomplishment and little to show for your effort.

But you know what? Resiliency is a process not a point.

Years ago I interviewed an elderly farmer with intensely misshapen arthritic joints. You could see his swollen knee joints widening out his jean overalls half way down his leg. But you know what? Each day, John kept at his daily chores—feeding the chickens, forking out manure piles, mending fences. When the pain got the best of him, he’d go a bit slower and rest a bit longer. John refused to write out pity party invitations. He did not let his daily discomfort weaken his resolve to be optimistic and encouraging to others. John may not have used the word resiliency, but he sure lived it over and over.

John modeled a powerful aspect of resiliency: Lean into today’s strength. Not the energy you’ll need next week or the milestones you’ll accomplish by next month. Forget an end goal for moving through your rough patch. Resiliency and staying flexible and teachable starts with you in the right now. This micro-millimeter.  

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities
brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
–Chuck Swindoll, speaker, author

 Be sure to catch the entire 7 Principles of Bending series right here.