Resilience Is Thriving
You may have noticed the tagline for this blog is “Thriving in Hostile Terrain.” While Blooming Heather seems like a happy, upbeat name, the tagline might give one pause. Is it ominous? Maybe it’s triumphant. Or, it could be any combination of trials, struggles, and perseverance. I like to think of it as resilience. When we can bounce back from difficult situations or circumstances, we are thriving. So, resilience IS thriving.
Bouncing and Buffeting
Easier said than done right? How do you get up when you’ve been hit so hard? When the storms of life are buffeting you about and you feel like you can’t keep your head above water, the last thing I want to hear about is bouncing back. While I was considering the importance of resilience the image of a person rebounding on a mini-trampoline hit me. Side quest – How valuable is rebounding for the physical body? You know me – I love a good rabbit hole, so off to researching I went. I discovered that bouncing back for only a few minutes a day can make a tremendous impact on your health for the better!
Rebounding on a Physical Level
The first benefit of rebounding on your body is increased lymphatic drainage. That means that your body is better able to remove toxins and waste while improving your immune health. That alone is fantastic, but there’s more. Rebounding also improves your cardiovascular (heart) health, bone density, muscle strength, joint health, and balance and coordination. Finally, it’s a fantastic stress reliever, and who doesn’t need that? This got me thinking that if bouncing back physically is that great for you, then mental rebounding must be at least equally excellent.
What’s the Connection?
Physical rebounding doesn’t focus on the fact that you start on the floor. Nor does it focus on the fact that once you get up you inevitably come back down again. That’s gravity – that’s life. Physical rebounding focuses on the value of the act itself – the ups and downs are what increase the strength and resilience of our bodies. The benefit isn’t in always staying up, it’s in the bounce back. The stronger I become, the higher I can bounce. Mentally, thriving in hostile terrain is the same thing. What makes me stronger is the very thing that sets me back. Resilience.
Thriving IS Resilience
To thrive despite life’s trials is a testament to resilience. Making sure you’re connected, extracting meaning from each day, learning from your past, staying hopeful, making sure to take care of yourself, and getting up again each morning to start again is resilience. Sure there are days when you feel all the air has gone out and there’s no bounce left. Those days you need to get pumped back up again – that’s part of bouncing back. On other days a nail might pop your momentum – then you need to repair or start over – once again, that’s resilience. And then there are the days where you bounce so high you aren’t even sure where you’ll land – that is the result of your resilience – your ability to thrive.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
I was feeling all out of bounce this morning until @raquel_capaicity_expert showed up in my feed and set me on this road today. The Bible is also full of human examples of resilience: Job, Esther, Paul, Joseph, Elijah, and many more. God’s word doesn’t portray people as never needing rest, comfort, courage, or strength. Instead, it shows us that whether we feel burnt out, utterly destroyed, afraid, tired, or persecuted, He is there to refill us with His spirit. We don’t have to be stuck on the ground, on the downturn, on the fall when we know we can bounce back.
Matthew 12:20 “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.”