RE: Is Being Resilient Too Hard?
Interesting article! I think that the technology and "5 second attention span" may have something to do with it, but from another angle I think there is also a downside to "resiliency" in that it is not too far off from stubbornness or complacency. Perhaps teenagers nowadays are seen as flighty, but many older people were seen as set in their ways and unwilling to change from an otherwise downward path. A good example to this is marriage: many older ppl preferred to just stay married, whereas nowadays the divorce rate is very high. The pros of staying married is that, if successful, you can have something long lasting and fulfilling and weathered through tough times. however the dark side is that you may both be extremely unhappy and only stuck with it out of fear of change or just stubbornness (or worse, an abusive relationship). Of course, divorcing after 3 months can be seen as not putting in enough effort. Or it can be someone realizing this person isn't for them and wanting to quit while they're ahead.
I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with quitting something if it isn't working, but I do think nowadays more people are eager to jump the gun and perhaps quit prematurely under the pretense of only wanting to live a life of complete happiness and fulfillment, without realizing sometimes it's going to be very hard and you have to push through. And I think that fear of living a life of drudgery and never looking for better stems, again, from observing their parents and older generation.
just my take on it. I think a balance of both resiliency and pursuit of happiness is needed. Quitting should just be an option that is neither revered nor scorned.
Thanks for sharing your take on it, @corinneiskorean. Giving up prematurely is exactly the problem I was trying to allude to in this post. I understand there are times when stopping something is completely valid and often necessary, but too many young folk today just quit for no real apparent reason. It's a problem that if unchecked, will only worsen.
I hadn't thought of resilience as stubbornness, but can see how the two might be paralleled. There are definitely traits that the two share, however, when writing this post, I was thinking more along the lines of being able or willing to bounce back from a 'curve ball' that life might throw at you, not necessarily sticking with something despite how terrible the outcome might be. As an example, I would never ask a student to show resilience in the face of an obstacle that might do them mental or physical harm, whereas stubbornness, to me, renders images of someone who perseveres no matter the cost (or risk) to them.