My son just turned two, and I love to look back on my kids baby pictures around their birthdays and obsess over how teeny tiny small they were and how amazing they are as little human beings on earth.  I reflect on what life was like when they were first born and how hard those sleepless nights were, although sleep deprivation does a good job of dulling the memory of it for you.  These special moments of their life remind me of how they were meant to be our two children, and this fills me with such gratitude.   These years of my life taught me a lot about perseverance, grit and resiliency and how to recognize it in the world around me.

The definition I love most about resiliency is: being knocked down by life and the ability to bounce back.  Resiliency is about being optimistic, about seeing the glass half full not empty.    And if there is one cohort of human beings that I am proud to stand beside its all of the women I know who time and time again have shown me what being resilient is all about, so thank you.

5 Traits of Resiliency from Badass Ladies I Know: 

1.  Fill Up Your Cup:  We as women love to help, we love to fix and find solutions and we could spend our days and nights doing this until something happens…we enter burnout.  There are some amazing women I know who have chosen to fill their cup up first, whether its through their career, their physical well being, their mental well being, their faith and anything else that inspires them in life.
2. Ride the Wave: We need to accept and be completely okay with not being okay sometimes.  Fact: WE ALL HAVE HARD TIMES, we all experience stress and pain.  Instead of tucking away feelings, let them out, and acknowledge that wherever you in life is hard in that moment….and then be willing to just ride the wave.
3.  Together Strong:  Women who keep company with other resilient women will find a great army of supporters.  There are so many empathetic, courageous, loving, nurturing, hilarious and bad ass women I have come across in this world.  If you have not begun to follow Glennon Doyle please do, she is a though provoking female leader on the topic of resiliency.   I am honored to have seen her speak in person a year ago with a dear friend, who in her own right is one of the most bad ass resilient mothers I know.    We as women need to remind ourselves that we are not alone in our struggles.   Rising through resiliency together is a part of living a meaningful existence.
4. GRATITUDE really isn’t just a fad.  Today, I went to a yoga class, throughout the entire class the instructor focused on the fact that we are all going to die at some point and to be mindful of this very singular second of our lives that we will never get back.  It was a bit overwhelming to hear this walking into a class that you are meant to find peace an solitude.  Oh and then there was also not realizing it was 90 degree heated room which made my practice quite challenging on many levels.  And then I leaned into all of it.  I let go, I accepted that it was going to be quite hard and I looked around at the 50 plus other people in the room in awe of this special moment with these strangers.   I may have cried a happy tear at the end, trust me, it was simply cathartic.   Practicing gratitude daily reminds us that we have so much to be grateful for right here, right now…there is no other moment like the one you are living right this minute.  Thank you for that reminder Karin.
5. WHO YOU ARE:  The last one I want to end with is simply the fact that resiliency is recognizing that you are not defined by your traumas or tragedies. What happens in your life does not define WHO YOU ARE, hold onto this one people.  How many women are speaking up today on the cultural injustice that has taken place in our  society for far too long?  How many friends do you know who have experienced rape or sexual assault and felt the need to come forward now to be a voice?  I know plenty.  I also know women who have survived cancer, a divorce, survived the loss of a spouse, a child, a parent, a brother and a sister…far too soon in their lifetime.  This is not meant to be a Debbie Downer reminder, these are just simple facts that life and the path it takes for each of us is not always what we expect or want.  And what I have learned through these amazing women who encounter adversity…is that they find their strength in it.   They are some of the most badass ladies I know in my life.   Rising through Resiliency can be what makes life so powerful and filled with meaning.  Here’s to all the women out there who continue to amaze me, thank you.

This is dedicated to my Mom & “The Girls” who are my original Badass Ladies (55 Years of Friendship)

With Love, L