Resilience

I am watching the snowdrops as they bravely lift their heads through the remnants of snow, and I am reminded about resilience. According to the internet it is “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”. It’s one reason I chose the snowdrop for my logo. To me it represents beauty in the face of harsh circumstances.  Resilience is such an important attribute and yet one that seems lacking today. We live in a society where expectations are high, and success must be immediate. We don’t seem to know how to get up when we have been knocked down. We no longer hear the expression “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

My garden is a great example of resilience. Look carefully at plants that have been browsed by deer that appear dead until a tender green shoot appears. See the container plants that never made it into the ground last fall and overwintered in a pile of leaves. Despite freezing temperatures they are coming back. The prized echinacea that I had to have (but that was over budget) is dead. But it has seeded in and its children continue. The evergreen that had its central leader damaged by snow has made a new one. Even the beautiful ‘Audrey’ ficus (pictured here) speaks of resilience. A client had these (very expensive) plants but didn’t want them. By the time I got to them they looked dead but I didn’t want to give up so I brought them in to the house and tended them. Eventually all the leaves fell off; people wondered why I would have dead plants taking up so much room in the house. I couldn’t give up – they were valuable. And look what happened. ‘Audrey’ was resilient and over time came back better than ever.

Thomas Edison made 1000 attempts to invent a light bulb. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper because the editor said he “lacked imagination.” Robin Williams was voted “Least Likely to Succeed” in high school. At a modeling agency Marilyn Monroe was told she had better learn secretarial work or get married. 

Whether in gardening or in life, resilience is a vital attribute. As Vince Lombardi said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.”

READ MORE ABOUT OTHERS WHO DID NOT GIVE UP