Resilience Redefined: Moving Forward in Your Career Without Ignoring the Hard Stuff
Resilience.
It’s a word that’s thrown around so often that it’s easy to misunderstand. I remember a colleague coming to me once, saying “ If one more person tells me I need to be more resilient, I’m going to scream”. After talking more, she told me that to her, it meant she couldn’t be sad or disappointed by a recent turn of events at work, and instead needed to “suck it up”. No wonder she wanted to scream - I would too. That’s asking too much of yourself, and it’s not what resilience is at all. To some, it might sound like a call to toughen up or power through, but, that’s not what true resilience is about.
Resilience is not about ignoring the weight of your challenges or putting on a brave face when your world gets rocked. It’s about acknowledging the struggle, feeling every bit of it, and then deciding—maybe in the smallest, most tentative way—that you’re going to move forward anyway.
It’s the quiet power of choosing growth over defeat, even when life or work feels overwhelming. And in your career, resilience can be the thing that takes you from stuck to unstoppable.
True Resilience: Feeling It All and Rising Anyway
Life is messy, and work life is no exception. Maybe its where all the drama lives for you. Every single one of us will experience setbacks: your great idea rejection that stings, the promotion or new role that didn’t happen, a toxic colleague that drained you, or the career pivot you didn’t see coming.
Being resilient doesn’t mean you ignore or pretend this doesn’t hurt or disappoint. It’s not about bouncing back to where you were before; it’s about rising stronger, wiser, and more determined, in spite of what happened.
In short, resilience is what happens when you choose to have your feelings but didn’t allow them to define you. It’s about saying, This is hard, but it’s not the end.
Why Resilience Matters in Your Career
No one’s career path is a perfectly straight line. You’ll no doubt encounter a series of detours, surprises, and, yes, setbacks. But here’s the beautiful part: every single challenge you face is also an invitation to insight, lots of which you would never have if you didn’t hit a bump in the road now and again. These setbacks can create an opportunity for you to;
Rethink what you really want from the situation or your career.
Grow into the person, leader, colleague, you’re meant to be.
Discover strengths you didn’t know you had.
Grow from being good at something to being great.
Resilience is the bridge between what happened to you and what you’re going to do about it. It’s what allows you to see rejection as redirection. It’s what helps you stand up after a stumble and say, What’s next?
From Struggle to Strength: The Gift of Post-Traumatic Growth
Here’s the thing about resilience—it doesn’t just get you through hard times. It can actually make you better.
This is the essence of post-traumatic growth. And, do I know a thing or two about this. I can count three times in my life where my world was rocked, the rug pulled out from me and I went to a really low and dark place. And while none of it had much to do with my career, it all had the possibility of impacting it in a very big way. Believe me I had my feelings, and it wasn’t pretty, but I chose to learn and reflect and guess what? I came out the other side wiser, stronger, more capable and clearer about my future. Truth is, we never know what misfortune is around the corner, but we all get to chose how we deal with it.
Post-traumatic growth can actually be a silver lining that emerges when you take a difficult experience and turn it into an opportunity for transformation. It’s the unexpected beauty that comes from hardship.
Think about the people who inspire you the most. Chances are, they’re not the ones who’ve never faced adversity. They’re the ones who’ve faced it head-on, learned from it, and used it to grow into something extraordinary.
Maybe though you know someone who seems to have it all, who gets what they want at work and who seems to breeze through hurdles easily. Do you think they are lucky or charmed or somehow magical? People used to say that to be when I was very successfully navigating huge hurdles, but that totally dismissed and discounted all the stuff I had to get past, all the risks I took and how hard I had worked to get to a place of being courageous. So next time, you think that way about someone? - think again. I bet there is a lot you just don’t know.
What if your career challenges aren’t roadblocks? What if they’re stepping stones to something even better?
Transformation takes time. Resilience is the bridge between who you are now and who you’re becoming
Building Resilience: How to Rise and Keep Rising
Resilience isn’t something you’re born with or at least I don’t think so, but it is something you can build. And the best part? You don’t have to do it perfectly. Here’s how you can start:
Embrace the Hard Stuff
Feel your feelings. Cry, scream, journal—do what you need to do. Resilience doesn’t mean skipping this step; it means letting yourself process so you can heal.Shift the Story
Every setback has a story. You get to decide how you tell it. Instead of, I failed, try, I learned something I can use next time.Take One Small Step
Resilience doesn’t mean leaping forward. It’s about taking one step—however small—toward the future you want.Surround Yourself with the Right People
Resilient people don’t go it alone. Find mentors, friends, or colleagues who lift you up and remind you of your potential.Celebrate Progress, Not Perfection
Every step forward is a win. Celebrate it. Resilience isn’t about being perfect—it’s about showing up, trying, and growing.
You’re Stronger Than You Think
Resilience isn’t about sucking it up. It’s not about pretending you’re okay when you’re not. It’s about giving yourself grace and time to heal—and then choosing to move forward, no matter how slowly.
Your career is waiting for you to step into your potential and be the best you. That’s your gift to the world and yourself. Those setbacks, struggles, and challenges? They’re part of life and a part of your growth. They’re not there to stop you; they’re here to shape you.
When you are on the other side and you look back, you won’t just see the hard times. You’ll see how every stumble taught you to rise higher. How every “no” led you closer to the right “yes.” How every piece of your story came together to create a career—and a life—you’re proud of.
You’re not just building a career. You’re building you.
So, the next time you face a setback, remember this: Resilience isn’t about being unshakable. It’s about shaking, feeling, and rising anyway.
Because you’re stronger than you think—and the we are all waiting to see what you’ll do next.
