Can You Take It? Are You Resilient?

One cannot but stumble into the catchword resilience nowadays. What is meant by that concept and what kinds of traits in people the term is used to refer to?

While originally used in physics to describe certain features of materials, the term is now used, yes, possibly to refer to somewhat analogous strengths and competencies in people. Does that mean that our view of the human being is becoming more and more technical and overly rationalistic?

Being resilient means that a person is able to function under stressful conditions without losing the ability to produce quality results in that area of activity. The concept covers also the ability to - not only to recover, but - bounce back from the effects of those stressors. Just like flexible but tough materials do after having being pressed on or strained. Sometimes also the idea of learning from experience is listed as a feature in being resilient.

Lacking or insufficient resilience shows in not being up to it to the same extent. One might easily mistakenly call these persons brittle or fragile, if the technical metaphor is misused. However, it has been shown beyond a reasonable doubt that in some professions one cannot be too resilient in order to flourish in the job. When some traits or qualities in us are cranked to the max we are bound to lose on some other fronts. Yes, there may not be perfect, omnipotent and omniscient types of persons outside fiction!

In various artistic professions one has to have an ability to become - if not delirious in the strong sense, but - at least mesmerized, entranced and ecstatic. On the other hand, those qualities at the top of one’s competence list may not predict success as a deep-sea diver, special forces soldier or military pilot. In those occupations it is really vital being able to remain focussed on reality, not letting one’s mind wander here and there, and not letting a single sensation or perception absorb all of one’s mental capacity.