Resilience

Resilience by definition is the ability for an object to return to its original form after being bent, compressed, stretched etc. OR a person's ability to recover from a form of adversity.

Its kind of a cool concept. The idea of remaining unchanged by the forces around us. We see resilience everyday. We watch our bodies heal themselves from something like a bruise. We see people recover from a serious illness. We watch people who have endured terrible relational heartbreak who have picked themselves up, moved on, and forged new relationships. A great example would be all the perennials that endure a harsh winter each year and re-emerge like new each spring.

Unfortunately human resilience is not quite so simple as trees and tulips.

Human resilience leaves a mark. It isn't possibly to return to the original form. There is the possibility of assuming a new form very similar to the old, but there are subtle marked differences. Bones will heal, but will remain more fragile than those which were never broken. Deep cuts will heal but there will remain a scar. We may recover from illness or disease, but traces of it stay with us, our immune system both strengthened and weakened. Our hearts may mend from heartbreak, but the memories remain, and we step into life more cautiously after we have exuded human resilience in any of these ways.

Human resilience is not eternal. Children demonstrate the most resilience both physically and emotionally. Its pretty much all downhill from there. Resilience is kind of a limited entity. You can only get out of jail free, (or almost free), so many times before you have to do some time, or pay through the nose to get out of it. Its kind of like the nine lives thing. Our bodies, our hearts, will give us second chances, and lots of them, but as much as they may seem unlimited, eventually we will discover they're not.

And I fear that day, because I depend on that resilience in my life. I take for granted that, like an elastic, I'll just snap back every time. But that's not how it will always work, and I'm worried that one day I might just snap.