When I think of my greatest mentors, who my truest self is, my journey of becoming, I think of resiliency. Being resilient is an acquired skill. One only obtains it through suffering, resolve, emotional intelligence, and true mental toughness. To have it is to revere it.
While many of us do not set out for a life needing great resolve, dire external and internal demands, a life requiring our best selves at every moment, as so many moments are embedded with survival. There is beauty in that journey. Show me a person who has the easy path and you will not show me much of a person. You will see a person filled with entitlement and ignorance. They have had resources that were given to them not earned, typically in the form of money, that allows for a simple life. When one of life’s troubles comes along, money is the great resolution and they continue on their way. In turn, there is no dire need for betterment of oneself as getting caught in the minutia of a simple life is enough for them.
While there is nothing wrong with people choosing to live in the manner in which they believe is right, without hurting anyone. I ponder, how many in that chosen and given life is that all that is destined to be for them? Is it truly enough? Are they living their best lives? Or was it a game that was sold to them. Sold to them in the manner of cultural and familial expectations.
To the contrary, the resilient folks who have a road less traveled have had the ability to take possession of some of life’s greatest traits. Confidence, mental toughness, conflict resolution, strategic planning. A life of hard knocks and getting to the other side is not obtainable without these invaluable skills. As life endures, the journey of becoming begins and ultimately you end up in a place of resiliency where life did not get better, you got better.