Recently I read an article put out by the New York Times on raising kids to be resilient. The story behind the article struck a chord with me because of how similar it was to mine. My father passed away my junior year of high school, so this concept of resiliency has been one I’ve practiced for years. After reading this article, I realized how valuable of a trait resiliency is. But what does resiliency really mean? I think what it means goes beyond the definition of the word. For a person to be resilient, to me, means to be able to ‘roll with the punches’ of life that are thrown at you. To know who you are and what you stand for, and to be able to adapt to any and all problems of life, especially adversity. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially when it seems like there’s just too many things you need to be resilient against in the world.

A big key of being resilient is knowing who you are and who you might want to be. That’s an incredibly intimidating and difficult thing to accomplish. I know for me, it was almost impossible to nail down what made me- my likes, my dislikes, my opinions, my beliefs. I’m just now barely figuring it out. And it wasn’t because I just didn’t know, it was because I was too afraid to figure it out. A lot of that is growing up, but I also think a big part of that derives from the pressure to be liked. It’s hard to develop who you want to be if you’re not sure if that ‘person’ will be successful in life and happiness. The more I’ve grown and been exposed to numerous social environments, the more I’ve realized that having character is a lot more important than being liked. It’s a lot harder to know who you are and what you stand for. I’ve come to appreciate how the difficulties of my life have given me perspective and strength. It’s given me the ability to roll with the punches. I know that because I’ve been through these difficulties, I am all the more prepared for my future ones. It’s a trait I learned early on, and I’m grateful for it. It’s resiliency, it’s character, it’s knowing who I am as a person and what I want to be in the future. That’s a valuable insight, and should be celebrated in society more.

So, it’s time to be resilient. It’s time to know who we are as individuals, what we stand for, what we want to stand for. It’s time to be confident in our opinions and values. It’s time to stand for who you are, and to be resilient to the difficulties that will come your way. As a society, I think this needs to be developed. There will be big events that affect people broadly, whether a civil rights issue, an environmental issue, or a political one. Resiliency will be the most valuable trait in these circumstances. Individually, everyone will face difficulties and circumstances that will develop their individual resiliency. Everyone will face circumstances that make it hard to continue to be strong: death, disappointment, failure. Knowing the type of person you want to be and being able to grow from these events, brings about further happiness and contentment. It makes your character that must stronger if it’s accepted that you can grow and move on from an event. Your character will grow and change, and that’s a good thing. So set your feet, and be fearlessly resilient.