(Re)claiming resilience

When things get tough, the tough apply lip gloss

I’ve been working on personal branding this week as an exercise in optimism ahead of publishing my first novel, Chase the Trouble.

I started with a simple exercise from Emma Lovelly Communications and asked friends and colleagues to share three words that came to mind when thinking of me.‘Creative,’came a close second to the irksome ‘resilient,’ or rather what resilience has come to mean.

Modern society is overly focused on protecting individuals from hardship and failure to the point where people are sheltered from the opportunity to develop their natural resilience. Modern perspectives rob people of their resilience, often celebrating a timid shadow of what could be.

Humans are designed to be resilient. Facing challenges and overcoming obstacles is a natural part of our growth and development. Constantly emphasising the need for resilience weakens people's innate ability to bounce back from adversity.

I’m a get on with the job, make the best of what you have, kind of gal, gritty and pragmatic. As an ‘active relaxer’, the occasional bouts of inactivity cause a fidget of activity and drive my husband away to his man cave or thinking post on the log outside.

Not much given to traditional notions of R&R (rest and relaxation), I’ve assigned it little sister status and relegated it to a position as a support act to the new R&R - Resilience & Resourcefulness around which I’m basing my brand.

This isn’t the old focus on resilience, it’s more a defocus and an encouragement to lean into fear, and chase the trouble as a pathway to real and lasting resilience.

I’m not sure if it’s very sexy, or if it’ll stick, but it’s the working territory I’m going with. I figure it’s better to get going, see if R&R has legs and adjust as I go.

What do you think?