What is #resilience?
Resilience is what gives us the emotional strength to cope with trauma, adversity, and hardship; it's a skill, a tool in our tool box that helps us overcome challenges and work through setbacks.
Lately I've been seeing some conversation about the downside to resilience, people saying that we shouldn't have to be resilient and instead what we need is systemic change.
đââď¸ But telling me I don't deserve to drown doesn't help me as I flounder.
We need resilience while we work to fix oppressive systems.
đś Resilience is the life raft, the lifeguard, the PFD, and recognizing and taking the opportunity to get out of the water and rest, because no one can tread water forever.
Resilience is a skill, a muscle we can flex when we're experiencing adversity, and that skill is our ability to recognize our own worth, reach out and accept support from others, maintain hope for the future, and also acknowledge when we need to step away from a certain situation.
My resilience sometimes looks like:
đ IDGAF what other people think because I'm the sh*t
đ¤ I'm feeling really overwhelmed, I need to reach out to my community for support
đ¤ I cannot commit to attend that rally because I need to rest in order to support my other actions
â I am experiencing misogyny and sexism and I am invested in standing up to it and developing strategies to combat it because I know change is possible and I know I have a role in making change
đŞ I've faced challenges before, I trust in my ability to work through this
đŁ This space no longer serves me, I am going to find a way to leave
đ˘ Taking time and space to cry
đť I think resilience is a truly beautiful thing. It's a skill we cultivate throughout our lives, and a hope we maintain, in order to show up in the ways we want to, with compassion for others and compassion for ourselves.
đ I believe it is especially important in activist spaces and social justice organizing where the work is so important and burnout is so common.
If we're not cultivating resilience, we lose capacity to show up in these spaces, and the work is too important.
What are your thoughts on resilience?
Have you ever heard or used other, related terms like #antifragility?
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