What is your “bounce back-ability?” When life seems to knock you down, how fast can you pop back up? It reminds me of boxing. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Think how fast an animal that flies pops back up when the wind knocks it back. Life does that to us. Sometimes in big ways; sometimes small. Sometimes frustrating; sometimes gut-wrenching.
My director at one of my jobs recently said something really amazing. How fast you reach success (by any measure) is directly related to how quickly you bounce back from any setback. My national area for this job is aptly named “pivot” which is so inspiring to me. When something gets in our way, we do not stop and give up. We pivot. I can tell you first hand, it works. It is powerful.
Here is a minute example. Two days ago, my director’s husband accidentally left with his truck keys in his pocket when going out of town for work and driving my director’s free work vehicle (thank you unlimited miles). When she went to get her kids in the truck for school, she realized: NO KEYS…He was hours away by this time and would only be gone two days. She could have kept the kids home and felt stuck and cried…I probably would have cried over this…but she didn’t…instead, she pivoted, asked for help getting the kids to school, rented a car, and continued to rock her amazing life.
Yesterday, as luck would have it, I got a flat tire. Seriously???? The kids and I prayed the whole way to school that we would make it and the tire would not blow out on us. Thank God. We made it safely there even though the PSI was below 10. I wanted to cry. Silly, but true. In any event, seeing my director pivot the day before inspired me to pivot. I got to the tire shop, got the tire fixed and while it was happening, she gave me a ride to my class yesterday morning and by the time my class was over, the tire was fixed and my day went on as normal.
Resilience is a powerful ingredient to your best life. When obstacles arise, we can fall down and complain and stress and wallow in them (which I have done plenty of times), or we can face them and rise! The faster we rise, the more likely we will fly!
Rising through challenges,
Nikola Rosa
