6 May 2020
Last month, via blogs and LinkedIn posts, two lists of attributes concerning resilience, came my way. The first was from Dr. Judith Rodin and the second from Eric Barker. I am grateful for both lists and for the good will behind sharing these during the pandemic.
As one of hundreds of facilitators of SMART Recovery meetings, I get a glimpse into how resilience works (or doesn’t) in the lives of those who attend our meetings. Recovery often depends on the serial repetition of new routines, particularly concerning exercise and work. When gyms close, exercise routines are altered. When workplaces close, sleep, grooming, commuting, and working routines are altered. The combination of these, with restrictions in recreation of all kinds, means almost all routines have been altered during the pandemic.
The acquisition, maintenance, and practice of resilience allows people to roll with altered routines. “Resilience is the virtue that enables people to move through hardship and become better. No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffering can come strength—if we have the virtue of resilience (Greitens, 2015, p. 3).” My shorthand for resilience is the bounce-back virtue.
My intent is to compare the lists of Rodin, Barker, and a writer Barker cited, Laurence Gonzales. Those attributes will be compared and ranked in a series of blogs beginning with this one. This analysis is not definitive. However, it will hopefully be provocative in the sense of provoking thought followed by action for both are required to change a human life.
To leave you with more than promises, I will identify what I perceive to be the most important single attribute of the 5+5+12=22 attributes listed: Gonzales #1: Accept the harsh reality, prepare to deal with it. This is primary because accurate assessment and acceptance are key to another virtue I hold dear: epistemic responsibility which, in the simplest terms, means being responsible for what you know and facing it squarely.
Gonzales’ first attribute of resilience touches on the roots of cognitive behavioural therapy which, itself, is indebted to Stoicism. “Of things, some are in our power, and others are not (Long, tr., 1991: Epictetus’ Enchiridion § I).” = Knowing what you can control and what you cannot control [and accepting both]. That’s how resilience begins.
Very nice to read your blogs.
Murugan Ganesan, thank you! Very nice to see your excellent work beneath this website.