Wednesday Wisdom: Resilience Key to Difficulty

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Female Athletes

A beautiful Indian female engineer appeared on my screen with bright red eyeglasses matching her outfit. Her gold necklace and earrings shone on screen. A white flipchart placed behind her had a triangle drawn with the words, “resilience” on the left, “confidence” on the right and “courage” at the base.

What is the commonality between the first three words – resilience, confidence, and courage? The common theme is difficulty – and that word was center in the middle of the triangle. She explained to her audience of listeners, it takes overcoming something in life or business to improve your resilience, confidence and courage. When you face resistance consider it an opportunity to become more resilient, confident and courageous because we need stress to become stronger.

We might not think of difficult situations as teachers – especially in the height and depth of the problem – but they are and in hindsight you realize you have what it takes to get through anything. Losing a major proposal to a competitor, taking a personal leave of absence from your company, losing trusted staff and vendors, or even breaking up with a corporate or personal partner can be the stress that one-by-one makes you tougher. I also liken the scenario to exercise and repeatedly riding up steeper hills during training to strengthen legs for the next longer jaunt.

Feeling stuck in the middle or end of a difficulty, means we need help to move on. Mental health is a topic in today’s world for athletes, stars, and corporate leaders sharing their stories openly to inspire others to do the same. Have you ever thought less of someone for talking about their problems or seen them as strong for discussing problems and how they overcame them?

This Wednesday Wisdom is to reflect on the question, “Have you become more confident, courageous or resilient after a recent difficulty?” If the answer is yes, how can you tell you are? If the answer is no, why can’t you see any type of improvement? Have you given yourself enough time or focus to look at yourself prior to, during, and after a crisis to realize the lessons learned?

As I head off this morning on a first-time 20-mile bike ride with a woman who invited me to join her on her annual 75-mile birthday bike ride at the age of 72, I know I’ll draw on the strength of running the Boston Marathon, biking up hard hills, and surviving two decades as a woman entrepreneur to keep me moving when the biking hurts. Isn’t that the way all of us should be experiencing life – believing we are resilient to our core?