If I were to ask what you are truly capable of… how much you could do… or how much you could handle, it would be impossible for you to answer. Why? Because you simply cannot know. How could you possibly know how much resilience you have?
Resilience is defined as “the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties.” Put in simpler terms, it could be summed up as “toughness.” We get hit on a daily basis with difficulties or challenges of widely varying degrees. We exhibit resilience on some level every single day. While there are many attributes that have helped us as a species to not just survive, but to thrive, one of the biggest is our ability to overcome the toughest of adversities.
Deep within each of lies a plethora of resilience. We cannot see it, we cannot measure it, and we cannot feel it. It lies dormant in there. The factors, circumstances, and challenges that arise in our lives determine the amount of resilience we exhibit. The more we need, the more we can tap into.
Resilience can be seen in completing difficult tasks, juggling multiple jobs, or pushing through fatigue. Most of us tap into it on some level each and every day. But what about that next level resilience? The kind needed for someone to survive the roughest of childhoods, to overcome a disability, or to heal from a major trauma. And what about the ultimate level of resilience? The mother who lifts a huge boulder off her pinned child. A person surviving for weeks at sea, in a small raft, with no supplies. Or the person who survives a plane crash, is badly injured and stranded, yet manages to get out alive.
I’m most intrigued by the stories that defy logic, cannot be explained by science, or exceed the laws of nature. Those people that survive the worse catastrophes, achieve the greatest accomplishments, and do things that others say are impossible all tap into that inner resilience that is likely present in all of us. It is encased in a shell that only gets tapped by the toughest of situations. To know that it is there is exciting, empowering, and reassuring.
Most people go through life without really pushing themselves, thinking they are not capable of more. They don’t take chances because they don’t believe they have what it takes to succeed. They sell themselves short of living an extraordinary life, or of experiencing breakthroughs, because they can’t comprehend the power they have within. They let setbacks shatter their dreams. Nelson Mandela once said, “The greatest glory lies not in staying on one’s feet, but rising after falling.”
Ask anyone that did something astonishing how they did it, and they will invariably respond with, “If I can do it, you can do it.” Why? Because they are not superhuman, they don’t contain a special power, and they are very much like you. They were just pushed hard enough, tested more, or forced into cracking open that dormant resilience. It was there. We all have it.
It’s time to push harder, go further, and do more. It’s time to see what we are truly capable of. It’s time to tap into that inner resilience. Why just be in awe of others when we can be in awe of ourselves? “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves,” said Thomas Edison.
So… what are you truly capable of? How much could you do? How much can you handle? The simple answer… more than you know!