The Three Keys to True Resilience
Reflections on resilience + Feb offerings
"Just as we are born with the inherent survival strategies of fight, flight, freeze, appease, and dissociate under threat, we are also born with inherent capacities for resilience."
Staci Haines, the politics of trauma
I am the kind of person who has always been a pillar for others. I am extremely resilient. I am also tired of being f*cking resilient.
We’ve been taught that resilience is about toughness, endurance and avoiding weakness or vulnerability. These concepts are baked into the American psyche to support the cultural paradigms of rugged individualism, American exceptionalism and capitalist productivity.
So many of us are overthinkers, over-workers and over-functioning, not because we want to, but because we are punished emotionally, socially, and economically when we don’t! The price of rest can feel like going back to even worse burdens, so we choose to push through.
While it feels really good to say, “f*ck being resilient,” There is a deeper medicine available. There is a saying in folk medicine - the antidote is never far from the poison. In my January workshop Reimagining Resilience, I distinguished between toxic, weaponized resilience and true resilience. Toxic resilience is harmful and causes exploitation, resentment and shame. True resilience is innate and allows us to support ourselves better through collective care.
Become a paid subscriber to learn how to unlock three keys to true resilience. It won’t happen overnight, but we can disrupt the cycle of chronic exhaustion in or lives and shift oppressive structures at the same time. If you are already paid subscriber, thank you! Keep scrolling to access the rest of the article.
Upcoming offerings & invitations
On Saturday, February 18th at 10:30a PT, I am offering a gentle, body-based workshop entitled Soothing Trauma Through Mindful Breath and Movement. In this workshop, we will learn accessible practices to ease trauma responses and nourish our taxed bodies with gentleness, rest and self-compassion. These practices are one hundred percent guaranteed to support your overall resilience practice.
Please join us and share with your friends and colleagues.
This will be my last workshop until April, so don’t miss out! Register here!
