I Get Knocked Down but I Get Up Again CHUMBAWAMBA
Resilient people are not superhuman! Like each one of us, they face suffering in this life in its varied forms. They are not immune to the full range of human experience or emotion. They live it, just as you and I do. The characteristic of resilience is the capacity to get back up again or to use the scientific concept from physics: resilience is the ability of an elastic material (such as rubber or animal tissue) to absorb energy (such as from a blow) and release that energy as it springs back to its original shape. The recovery that occurs in this phenomenon can be viewed as analogous to a person's ability to bounce back after a jarring setback.am-webwww.merrister.com/dictionary/resilience
We are all facing jarring setbacks just now. Our hopes, plans and intentions for 2020 are mostly on hold. The waiting is agonising for some but perhaps liberating for others; the fears and losses are profound, and for some mental health and wellbeing is challenged in very real and deep ways. May I encourage you to embrace the reality of this, rather than deny any personal suffering. That is actually the first stage in building resilience to own and respect with honesty what the struggles are. The vulnerability shown in doing this tends to lead to much greater openness on the part of our friends and colleagues, and we discover that we are not alone and can both give and receive greater compassion and support. There are many examples from the Psalmist and St Paul, and even Jesus in his final days, expressing the agonies faced, and yet somewhere within- and then vocalised, the trust in God despite, and combined with, every struggle they face.
Chumbawumbas words go on to speak of the use of alcohol to remind him of the good times. We are reminded that by the World Health Organisation that this is actually more harmful and I encourage you when you are tempted to reach for yet another drink to try singing instead!