Resilience

Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash.

Today, I marvel at resilience. 

My church is worshiping remotely -- who ever thought we'd do that? We adapted to our circumstances and changed our ways to protect others (one example of resilience). Before the service began, I was making coffee for my husband and me while halfway keeping an eye on my son (eleven months old today!). We play with him but we also encourage him to have independent play time so he doesn't feel the need to have someone dictate how he should play (and often when I play with him, I'll do a mix of interacting with him and "playing" on my own with other toys, like kids do, since he isn't really getting interaction with other kids right now). Anyway, I had a mug of coffee in my hand and was trying to pull up my church's Facebook page on my laptop so I could stream the service when BAM! I heard a thud. A big one.

Typically when Oliver falls down, he gets right back up. Sometimes if he hits his head or is surprised by what happened, he'll whine for a second but then carries on with his mission of pushing toys around the room. Today, he was not happy to keep calm and carry on. There were big tears and big howls. I pulled him onto my lap and wrapped him up in my arms (sneaking sips of coffee in between soothing phrases, I'm not gonna lie). I saw a red bump rising on his cheek and knew the impact of his face on whatever he fell on top of was hard. Let me tell you: if I fell flat on my face and hit it hard on something, I'd probably be cross a lot longer than he was. I might cry, I'd probably howl (curse words), and I may even pout and pity myself for a bit. Kids are so resilient; within a minute or so he was back at it.

In October, 2018, I was in a stressful situation. Nobody knew I was pregnant at the time except for my husband, and after this stressful situation I started spotting. Determined not to put my pregnancy at risk, I worked on changing how I reacted to the source of stress. That night, I had a dream about myself when I was younger (elementary school age). I saw myself in a moving photograph, like something from Harry Potter. It looked like a snapshot of life, if you will. I was next to a bully, and in the photograph I was rolling my eyes, unfazed by the drama and toxicity. I was walking a bicycle towards the frame, and when I turned my face towards the "camera," a black eye on my left side could be seen. I had either been in a bad fight or a crazy adventurous stunt, but I wore the shiner without shame or pride. It just was there, and I was still living my best life (because what's better as a kid than riding your bike around, that glorious freedom?). This isn't far-fetched, really...I've got the scars to prove it. This dream gave me the courage to stay the course and conviction that I could handle anything life threw at me.

The world is in a dark place right now but I see resilience (resistance?) everywhere. People don't give up and won't be dragged down by defeat. People are making homemade masks and finding ways to fit self-care into their busy lives. Healthcare workers continue to battle COVID-19 on the front lines. Places of worship and education are using technology to maintain connection and learning. Parents are working with children at home. People are having virtual happy hours and posting memes to cover up and combat fear with laughter. People are spreading good news when they can. Researchers continue racing towards a vaccine and more widely-distributed tests. There is hope. We are tough. We are resilient.

I think about the recent wildfires in Australia. Before COVID-19, that was the crisis bringing me to tears. The planet is a remarkable, resilient thing. Ecosystems recover from devastation when given time and space to do so. My prayer is that amidst this terrible pandemic, the earth gets to draw a deep, unpolluted breath. Our air and water and plants and animals can recover, just a bit. And I hope and pray that as humans we can learn how to move forward after this and keep some of the important lessons we're faced with today regarding work-life balance, protecting the planet, caring for our communities, helping those in poverty, and getting adequate and affordable health care for all, not just the privileged.

What I'm wondering:

How are you resilient? What is something you've found out recently that you can do and you never knew or believed you could do it before? How have you tapped into hidden strength and how will you use it to battle what lies ahead?