Finding Resilience in a World That’s Breaking Down
I often envision myself in the middle of a history textbook, taught forty or fifty years from now to disbelieving high school students. I imagine that future youth reading the sometimes ridiculous, sometimes catastrophic histories with a better understanding of the events than I do now.
An infamous real-estate mogul and reality television star elected as President of United States of America; an ever-changing climate growing increasingly chaotic with each change of the seasons; racial disparities sprouting riots on the streets of cities; two imbeciles across oceans with hands over a red nuclear button. Wars leading millions of people to different parts of the world in the hope they can find a new home. The list goes on, and on, and on.
The future youth will have the luxury of looking back at a distance. Right now, it’s almost as though I wake up each morning to an alarm on my phone, along with a notification from the world’s most recent tragedy.
I am also studying it, analyzing the world and these intricacies in real-time.
Professors who are there to prepare us for the real world, to make us productive citizens and fine attributes to the workplace, are simultaneously making us question every layer of society and the systems they expect us to work for.
All the while, our lives keep going. Classes still need to be attended, work still has us on the schedule. Friends are there, and then they are not. The family gets older.
Cynicism, despite my lack of trying, has seeped into my daily life. It’s hard to find the motivation to keep going in a world that insistently tries to tell us not to.
And honestly, it’s difficult to envision a future. The one thing I know about the future is that it’s shrouded in uncertainty.
So, in the least preachy way possible, I’ve compiled a small list of things to do when that uncertainty seems to overpower everything else you’re doing in life. These things aren’t the typical “stay positive” or “eat healthy” advice on most “How-To-Be-Resilient” think pieces all over the internet. And, I say “least preachy” because my sermon would be like the sick healing the sick — I’m also doing this as a reminder to myself.
Look for someone's wise words.
There might be someone in your life — an eccentric aunt, the old man next door, your old piano teacher, or a professor who moved you with her words — someone who seems to know a bit more about life than you do.
Reach out to one of them.
At this age, we know so much about the things we are studying and using concepts that our parents haven’t ever heard of. But we might be coming home to dirty dishes in the sink, an unmade bed; you might have not called your parents in a while, or are in a fight with the person you’re dating, or you might’ve not been able to eat a home-cooked meal since Thanksgiving.
Whatever it is, your twenties can give you a whole lot of life, but no credentials to know how to deal with it.
That person doesn’t have to have white hair and nearly a hundred years under their belt. it could even be your Mom — while she doesn’t understand some of the things you’re passionate about, I’m sure she could give you a hefty list of relationship advice, as well as an easy recipe to make from her Pinterest account.
Consider un-burning those bridges.
Perhaps it’s that little bit of Catholicism left in me from a lifetime ago, but I have found one of the keys to my inner peace has been forgiveness.
It could be a person, event, or thing; some girls who bullied you in elementary school, a friend that turned sour and never figured out why a neglectful parent…It’s amazing how good it feels to let go of the resentment. Hatred, regret, betrayal, all of these things that can sit in you like toxic lead.
There’s already enough happening in the world that can poison us, it’s unhealthy to harbour such feelings from our own lives. If you can let go, do just that.
And I know, somethings can’t be forgiven. You can forgive someone or something for the sake of shoving the weight off your shoulders, with no intention of letting them re-enter your life. Sometimes forgiveness isn’t a selfless act, it’s a selfish act.
Out of sight out of mind?
My parents may have read too many articles tying a connection to phones and the increase of anxiety and depression in college students.
They might be right, I’m often distracted by my cellphone, and find myself worrying too much about the content I chose to share and what people might think of it.
I’m consistently disappointed by the news I read and misinterpreting the things my friends text daily.
Realistically, turning off your phone just isn’t likely. It’s our main form of communication, professionally and personally. Getting a notification has the same psychological response as someone calling your name. You have to look.
Your phone is a window to the world, and even though it’s an amazing tool to have access to, it doesn’t mean it needs to be used every waking moment. I’m not saying you should feign ignorance and look the other way at what’s happening in the world, because to me, ignorance isn’t bliss. I’m simply saying that, for a few moments of the day, it’s okay if you don’t look at your phone.
Problems have solutions, look for one.
I know people who face troubles and their main solution is to not deal with it, to run away and never look back. I often wonder if that works out for t
hem in the end, because I question its long term effectiveness.
I mean, we could all pretend a problem doesn’t exist. But each problem can become a wound that festers.
Looking back, I realize that I’ve faced most conflicts with the desire to settle it. Not going to bed angry, as my Mother would say. Sometimes you have to
re-break bones for them to heal properly.
But what if that problem is bigger than a falling out with a friend or a class that you’re bound to fail? Something that seems so far out of your reach, that the only thing that can settle in
the pit of your stomach is hopelessness?
Something like one of those things your professor mentioned that kept you up at night.
Every problem has some sort of solution, but not all solutions fix the problem. They heal it.
Finally, just take a deep breath.
Our generation hasn’t been dealt a fair hand, but we’re often blamed for some of society’s downfalls. Our mid-life-crisis have become quarter-life-crisis, and then we are accused of not being resilient.
I think we are quite the opposite. Considering the hand we have been dealt, we are the first generation to finally address things past generations have been sweeping under the carpet. That should be proof of our resilience in itself.
Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from something that hurt. I think I am resilient even though stress sometimes overpowers my life. I have to let everything that happens sink in, I need to feel it so that I can move on and deal with the rest of the world.
Putting one step in front of the other, you focus on one thing at a time until you’re ready to move on to the next one, and know that not all things can’t be solved at once.
Originally published at http://thecrookedfriend.com on November 7, 2017.
