The measure of fitness is not how slowly a heart beats but how quickly it recovers from exertion. Fitness training is a way of building our body’s resilience. Yes, there’s some pain involved, but with each work-out our body recovers more quickly, becoming more prepared for additional challenges.
But what about our emotional resilience? How do we train ourselves and our kids to recover quickly? Building emotional resilience is not so different from building physical resilience. I have to put myself in a position to fail, to flag and to flail, knowing that it WILL make me stronger.
Even more difficult, I’ve got to allow my kids to fail. And I have to know that it is at that instance of failure that the learning really starts. I have to restrain myself from swooping in and “fixing it.” That is probably the biggest challenge: reminding myself that it is good for the setbacks and the learning to start early, far better than allowing the first setback to occur in high school or college.
So how do you train resilience in yourself and your kids?
Missy Park
Founder