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I lost my sister 10 years ago and my parents 5 years ago within 3 months of each other - resilient: greeting each day and living the way they would have wanted me to.

I see resilience when I observe my young children. No matter how many things they bump into, how many times they fall down, they just pick their little bodies up - or let me help them - and are at life again. Such a lesson for me.

I've learned that while my journey may have had some rough spots and I've had some snags along the way, there are so many more people with situations far worse than what I have. Before reading through some of these comments I was ready to type a "poor little me" story when I began reading of health problems, sick children and adults. It made me think that there is Resilience at it's best. For these people to be able to face these problems and carry on it puts my situation and problems into perspective.

When my daughter was 4 months old I had to spend a week in the hospital due to complications from gall bladder surgery. I was nursing her at the time and by the time I got home my milk had pretty much dried up. But, I nursed her every hour for 2 days depsite my pain and other people's assurances that she would be fine. My milk came back and we made it. That was one time in my life when I was resilient. She's 7 now and a beautiful girl.

My example of resilience is after having a week of 60hours of work, I try to close my eyes on everything that's bodering me and I try to have a good time with my boyfriend showing him that I love him and that I appreciate him letting me do the things I love!

Oups, wrong email for the post just before which is mine! :)

Fighting back after an accident that left me unable to walk for three months and now in seventh month of rehab. It has been a struggle everyday to fight the depression. I finally feel that I am getting back to my old self.

I have lived through many challenges…beating cancer, having to say goodbye to a job I loved after 15 years because the company was seized by the government, going through a divorce, and Parkinson’s disease taking my dad. However, none of these challenges tested my strength like the challenge of losing my mom after a long battle with colon cancer. My mom’s strength taught me the meaning of resilience and faith. I experience life differently since her death. I embrace resilience because it rewards me in ways I never knew were possible. And…the alternative to not embracing resilience is to give up...and that is just not in my genes thanks to my mom.

Resilience at this point for me is working on starting over. We just moved several states away from everyone I knew though my husband knows quite a few people at his transfer-office. My son is meeting a lot of people at school but I just don't have the outlets for meeting people like they do and I'd just in the past year or so made a VERY solid group of friends at our old home. However, I whole-heartedly supported this move knowing it was the best for our family even though it was heart-wrenching for me.

I have to have resilience every day with my sensory processing issues, which affect how I think, feel and act on just about everything. But it is ok, I find ways to find happiness. God bless each of you who have posted your hardships - may both resilience and blessings be with you always.

Resilience should have been my middle name. My friends say that I remind them of those blow-up punching-bag toys that keep bouncing back after they've been hit. After a life of many challenges (divorce, single motherhood, failed businesses, loss of jobs, grave illness of a spouse, etc) I still wake up excited about my next art project, scrapbook page or writing assignment. My motto through life has been: "Just Rise to the Occasion." -Something I try to do every day even if the day before had its disappointments... I never lose hope.

Finding a way to get through whatever obstacles you have to face. When I look at my life I believe it has been a charmed life after all. Yes, there are struggles but overall it has been fantastic!
Aloha, Kate

I found out last February that I had MS- then I lost my mother and my grandfather in the next 2 months...resilence to me was being able to get up to keep moving to be thankful for what each day brings and to not get paralyzed by the sadness and the scariness of what may be to come.

Hmmm... resilience. The biggest example I know of in our lives is when we decided to buy a house. We found 2 that we thought we perfect and for one reason or another, they fell through. The realtor was so surprised when I said, "Well, everything happens for a reason, and this just means something better is yet to come." And it did. I can't imagine anything more perfect for us than our home now is (except if it maybe had a 2nd bathroom!) Thanks for the chance!!!

I myself had a rough childhood , being taken from my parents at a young age because of sexual abuse was put in fostercare and was then being basically returned and put into another foster home, and eventually I got out of the system because my grandmother got custody of me. Some people out there have a bad childhood and then later in life become alcoholics or drug addicts or even have a bad attitude about life in general but you can all overcome our past and become something much much better just to prove it to ourselves ....that is resilience to me.

We all face things in life (often daily) that require resilience and focus to keep your eye on the big picture instead of giving in to the easy path. My biggest challenge NOW is all the hours I have to give to work life since we are shorthanded and too busy to hire/train the new people. I try to remember that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train and that we just have to get past these next few weeks/months and it will all have been worth it. Then there will be other challenges to face.

Not giving up when other people told me I was too old for the job I desperately wanted. And, I got it!

Wow! There are strong, amazing women on this board. I went through breast cancer surgery, chemo, and radiation and managed keep working at my job. Then I lost my job due to the economy, and I'm trying to find my way from here.

Resilience for me was surviving the deaths of my 8 year old son, mom, and dad and a divorce within a 4 year period. My son was born with multiple physical birth defects, endured 12 major operations and more than I can remember smaller operations & procedures. He had been doing very well for a year. He was a cub scout and had just finished 2nd grade when he became ill and died 12 hours later. My parents both died of cancer. I had 2 other children and life needed to go on.

My resilience is battling with depression every day of my life. I have come to deal with it much better recently with the help of good friends and lots of crafting and can now cope without drugs. It is a long and hard road but one I have to walk and will do so with courage.