So life has a way of challenging us. It’s when we believe we’re ready, yes, but then it’s testing you so hard that you never discovered what we should be dealing with. Heartbreak, failure, disappointment, and pain—all come uninvited. And then it’s as if the world moves on while we’re sitting here frozen, broken inward. As Ernest Hemingway remarked: “The hardest thing I’ve learned in my adult life is that I have to keep going, no matter how broken I become inside.”
This is a truth most of us are completely unprepared for. If all we are aware of in growing up is happy endings and that ever-successful hero, then everything seems to come to a stop. But adulthood strips that layer away. Life doesn’t stop. It doesn’t facilitate our hearts to restore, nor does it facilitate our minds to catch up. The world wants to make progress and each of us wants to come to a halt.
So what is it to actually “continue”?
It’s not about believing everything is OK. It is standing, painful step by painful step, even when you are barely standing. It means taking a stand when no one else does. It means only having one spark of courage and acting, say on days when everything seems hopeless.
Resilience isn’t loud. It’s not dramatic. It’s silent, messy, and tiring. And getting up again and again and trying again and moving on when everything out there feels heavy takes courage, every step forward. And it is there of all the critical wisdom: you are stronger than you think. You can get on, rebound from defeats, and even change.
Life is going to be rough around the edges. But we’re humans, and the miracle is this: we cope. So we adjust and continue. In that endurance, in the daily struggles people endure against despair, we learn strength.
So every move made is evidence in your case that one bit of resilience remains intact. Every instant you resist defeat wins. Go on. There is your best self out there, waiting on the other side of the struggle.
