Growing Resilience in Changing Times
We are living in a time of immense transition. Around us, the world is reshaping, through socio-political upheavals, accelerating technological developments and the intensifying effects of climate change. These shifts are not isolated; they are deeply interconnected, calling us to adapt, respond, and reimagine how we live and relate to each other, to technology and to the Earth itself.
In order to navigate these changing times and co-create a flourishing future, how can we cultivate resilience, not just as individuals, but as communities, organisations, and societies? How might we adapt as a species to meet these times? More than ever, it’s vital to deepen our capacity to stay grounded amidst uncertainty, to act with intention, and to imagine what’s possible beyond the crisis. This requires us to draw on all our human capacities: emotional, relational, cognitive, creative, and ecological.
What is Resilience, Adaptability and Antifragility?
The roots of the word resilience comes from the Latin verb: resilīre meaning to ‘to leap back’ or to ‘recoil’. Re means ‘back’ and ‘salīre’ to jump or leap. This suggests the ability to bounce back. Resilience has been synonymous with the capacity to renew after changes, disturbances or shocks. Adaptability is closely related to resilience and enables us to navigate changes and bend with the winds of change when faced with unforeseen circumstances. It is our ability to be with what comes, accepting what is, being open to change, and adjusting our step to the new terrain. It involves continuous learning to evolve with changing conditions whether personal, societal, technological, economic or organisational.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s concept of antifragility in his book ‘In Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder’ takes resilience a step further. While resilience involves returning to a prior state, antifragility is about growing through stress, volatility, and adversity. Taleb argues that exposure to low doses of stressors that are within our capacity to handle are beneficial to become not only resilient but to thrive amidst volatility and uncertainty. For example, intermittent fasting and cold water plunging creates a mild stress on the body prompting (aka Hormetic stress) it to adapt and become more robust, and challenges can foster personal growth that wouldn’t have occurred in their absence.
To meet the challenges of our daily lives and work in modern living, presence is central to be responsive rather than reactionary. It emerges through grounding ourselves and listening deeply to what is happening so we can respond reflexively. To do this we need to build our capacity to be with what is. Individuals, communities and organisations can grow stronger, wiser, more capable because of volatility.
Wisdom for Growing Through Challenge
As part of our Being Well series, School of Being hosted a session on Growing Resilience in Changing Times to explore what supports us to navigate these times and to grow through it.
Some of the reflections that emerged from participants’ experiences included:
- Cultivating gratitude – even in moments of hardship
- Listening to the body and allowing emotions to move through
- Asking for help and seeking support – from trusted friends, professionals, or communities
- Letting go of expectations and embracing impermanence
- Creating space to pause – and tending to emotions in their own time
- Reaching for grounding practices: walking, creativity, rest, nature
- Staying connected even when it feels hard
- Voicing needs with courage and care
Deep listening, self-care, grounding and the importance of networks and community create solid ground to grow through the stressors in our life and work.
Nature’s Lessons in Adaptation and Interconnection
We also turned to the natural world for inspiration on what living systems can teach us about adaptability and change. Nature offers us many lessons and has an extraordinary capacity to regenerate. Nature doesn’t resist change, it readily composts and recycles. New growths sprout from decay and seeds germinate through fire. Underground fungal networks send water, nutrients and signals through a vast mycelial web for the survival of a forest ecosystem. We, like nature, need communities of care and support when some are weaker or unwell. It is through our interconnectedness that we can replenish. Our relational networks are the threads that support us when we falter.
Some key reminders shared during the session:
• Diversity and community strengthen systems
• Resilience is relational, our interdependence is a resource
• Acceptance of impermanence allows us to move with life, not against it
When we accept that nature is impermanent, and that change happens moment to moment, we’re better equipped to meet what comes rather than resist it. Just as the ocean moves with tides and the river flows around obstacles, we can learn to adapt with more ease. The more we align with nature’s patterns and practical wisdom, the more we can find effective ways to navigate change in these times. Despite a common tendency to see ourselves as separate, we are part of larger systems, connected to our families, friends, communities, workplaces and the places we live.
Learning with Life
Growing resilience in changing times means learning to stay present, grounded, and responsive amidst uncertainty. It’s not about avoiding difficulty, but developing the capacity to be with it, adapt, reflect, and grow through it. From our session, we saw how resilience is nurtured through gratitude, connection, listening to the body, seeking support, and aligning with nature’s rhythms. These small, steady practices help us to meet change with intention, rather than reaction. When we understand ourselves as part of living systems, interconnected, adaptive, and always in process, we begin to grow through challenge with appreciation.
An Invitation
School of being would love to invite you to our next Being Well gathering, The Intelligence in Our Bodies: Tuning into Deeper Guidance on May 27. Let’s gather in like-hearted community.
Written by Vivien Sung. Photo by Jax Wechsler.