My 11 Favorite Quotes from “Resilience” by Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens is an impressive dude. Rhodes Scholar. Humanitarian. Navy SEAL. And now Governor of Missouri. I read his book, Resilience: Hard-won Wisdom for Living a Better Life, expecting a guide on mental toughness. It was a bit more “self-help” than I anticipated — the book is based on a series of letters he wrote to a former BUD/S classmate who was struggling through alcoholism and lack of direction after getting out of the service. But, really enjoyed it. Greitens packed his book full of useful wisdom and profound insights. Below are 11 of my favorite quotes.

“Don’t expect a time in your life when you’ll be free from change, free from struggle, free from worry. To be resilient, you must understand that your objective is not to come to rest, because there is no rest. Your objective is to use what hits you to change your trajectory in a positive direction.”

If you spend your life expecting to reach some point of pure, unadulterated bliss, completely free from worry or trouble, you’ll probably spend your whole life looking. Struggle and pain are parts of life we must accept. Trying to ignore them or escape them is a futile effort. We have to accept that we’ll experience challenges and that we’ll grow as individuals through overcoming them.