Resilience and Grit, Trying Again

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” 

— Steve Maraboli 

Resilience means “the capacity to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties” and grit means “a character of resolve or courage”. Trying again refers to getting back up once or multiple times when facing difficult challenges. Everyday, refugees go through a number of struggles. A bunch of them face trauma, loss of loved ones, murder, violence, seeing things that nobody should ever have to see.. And it’s hard. It’s hard to watch all of that knowing that you won’t ever forget it and it’s even harder to try to find your will to live after all of that. But, that’s where you have to try. It’s difficult for sure, but it’s even worse when you live with all of that misery without trying to find happiness. Sitting still and dwelling on the past won’t help you now or in the future. In fact, you will stay exactly as you are. You’re going to grieve until you can’t shed anymore tears, reflect on all the violence you’ve faced and never recover from it, think about your trauma without ever moving on, and you’ll never feel different. It would become a cycle of anguish knowing that you carry all the burdens in the world and yet still feel guilty about it. If you don’t do something about it now, it will never change. 

Struggling with burdens you’re tired of carrying is exhausting, and you have to learn to let it go. You’re weighing yourself down mind, body, and spirit with all of these struggles and not trying to change it. It’s important to know that you can and are completely capable of changing the outcome of your life. You’ve been through a lot, and it wasn’t easy, but now you can start over, live a new life, let go of the traumas that make you feel heavy. You’re strong for carrying your struggles for so long, but it’s time to let it go and remove the weight a little. It’s not about what you carry but how you carry it. You can grieve, you can be miserable, you can feel hopeless and that’s okay! What’s not okay is letting these burdens hold you back from living a life with better plans in store for you. It’s already been a hard journey, but you can’t let it drain your spirit. Never let these challenges hinder you, hold you back, or cave in, because you’re meant for so much more than staying down. You’re so strong for getting through this pain, but now’s the time to get past it.

-Scarlett Salas