How we activate and manage personal resilience is changing.

It used to feel like we lived in relatively stable times with periods of instability that required personal resilience. Now it feels like we’re living in relatively unstable times punctuated with periods of stability.

The reorientation of this equation–for whatever period of time–is the result of what I refer to as the “stuff stack.” I usually replace “stuff” with a more colorful term. In this kind of stack, problems that require meaningful personal resilience dramatically overlap.

First Covid, then at home schooling, then losing a job, then the hurricanes or wildfires, then… Because of the overlap the requirement for personal resilience extends out to the horizon. Who knows when things will feel better?

Might just be an extended problem of the moment, sure, but what if “stuff stacks” continue with more regularity? How should you respond?

Here’s a thought as you rustle in the junk drawer looking for some more resilience:

Drop your gaze from the unknown end to the day itself. The mission is the day. The goal is to do the work of today, to find rest, to find perspective. Today. Long resilience requires dedicated and daily recharging. It’s not selfish. It’s how we show up at our best over time.