Three personal completely non-scientific lessons on resilience.

All of us have had our resilience tested to the limit over the last 18 months. As most founder CEOs, over the years I have read everything that I could find on resilience. For me personally, insights from Stoicism and athletic performance psychology have always helped the most.

But — what do you do when you get hit so deeply that, when you reach inside yourself, there is no more strength left to draw on? Here are my three very personal and completely non-scientific lessons, which have helped me in my toughest days.

Lesson 1 — stop blaming yourself.

As many women, my tendency is to keep blaming myself for pretty much everything, or to keep trying to find a reason why something is happening.

This is an exhausting thought cycle, which saps energy.

Where something simply could not have been caused by you — for example, a loved one suffering from an illness — just let go, stop questioning. Sometimes there is simply no reason that we can find or understand. Life is not always fair and yes it hurts but blaming yourself will only make it more painful.

Lesson 2 — find your unique source of strength.

In the last few years, for me, it has been three things:

1. the amazing acts of greatness from the TAINA team

2. the incredible unconditional love of my family

3. the energy I get from our clients and their feedback.

Often during the toughest days, a positive conversation with one of our wonderful clients or the team doing something amazing, transforming an impossible challenge into an elegant solution, gave me a magical lift and got me through the day until I was able to hug my family at night.

I don’t think that either our clients, the team or even my family have any idea of how much positive impact they have.

By next morning, thanks to all their amazing healing super powers, I feel stronger than before.

Lesson 3 — help someone who has a sharper pain than you.

There is always someone who has a greater pain than you. In the long run, the thing that has the most enduring strengthening effect on the human spirit is helping others without expecting anything back.

I would love to hear your strategies and sources of strength. Let me know by responding to this article or reach out to me directly. Let’s keep getting stronger together!