Overcoming Life’s Challenges with Resilience

As we journey through life, we have come to learn that the road to success is not always smooth. There may be challenges and roadblocks that might get in our way. These challenges and roadblocks could either make or break us depending on how we respond to them.

The story of the donkey who fell in a well best illustrates this concept.

“One day a farmer’s donkey fell in a well. The farmer after hours of trying to figure out what to do to get his donkey out, gave up. He decided that since the donkey was old and the well needed to be covered up, he would just bury the donkey in the well. So the farmer grabbed a shovel and begun to shovel dirt into the well. The donkey upon realizing that he was about to be buried alive, cried aloud. 

A few shovel loads later, the farmer noticed that the donkey quieted down so he looked down the well and was amazed by what he saw: with every shovel of dirt that fell on the donkey’s back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up. The farmer continued to shovel dirt down the well while the donkey continued to shake the dirt off and step up until it stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off.”

So what’s the moral lesson of this story? When life throws dirt at you and tries to bury you down, don’t falter! What you need is resilience in order to help you step up in life and not give up.

What is resilience?

The Institute of Social and Emotional Intelligence defines resilience as perseverance and diligence in the face of setbacks. It is also the capacity to recuperate quickly from experiencing problems and difficulties.

So here is how resilience can help us overcome life’s challenges and be successful in life:

It gives us the capacity to deal with difficult situations effectively. When faced with setbacks or difficulties, we sometimes freeze and are clueless on how to handle them. We tend to avoid the problem not knowing that avoiding it would make your situation worse.

A resilient person, when faced with setbacks and difficulties, will know how to deal with difficult situations effectively and innovatively. This is because their minds are not clouded with worry or panic and they are completely focused on their goals.

It makes us flexible and adaptable. People who are resilient have the ability to adapt to changes in their environment and stay relevant. They know how to cope to whatever situation they are in because they do not let themselves give in to any negative emotion.


It gives us the capcity to bounce back. Recovering from any unpleasant situation is not easy to do- it takes effort and time.

Resilience gives you the ability to bounce back from adversities. Resilient people do not get distracted by the challenges that are thrown at them as their eyes are completely on the go. So whenever they fall, they are like the donkey in the story, they’ll just shake out whatever’s keeping them from moving forward and step up.

Resilience is not just learned overnight. It is not something you can have in just a snap of a finger. It is developed and built within you. To do this you need to:

• Practice healthy living because you can’t be resilient if you are stressed, not having enough sleep or not eating well.

• Develop having self-talk when facing challenges. This will help you brush off the negativities you feel about yourself that’s hindering you from surpassing these challenges and achieving your goals.

• Seek support from friends, family and people who have resilience as competency. This will help you know more about this competency and develop it. Also, know that you don’t have to face adversities in life alone.

Resilience can indeed help us overcome life’s challenges and become victors instead of victims.

At People Builders we have a team of expert trainers and coaches who can help you and your team develop the competency of Resilience. Contact us today for a quick chat to see how we can partner with you to train and coach you and your team.