(on resilience.)
Every time I come across a really cool vintage item,
on days I dedicate to scouring local finds, I think of the resilience of the piece. It survives not only the years, but also the experiences, and the stories that surround it.
It makes me think of the quote, “If I were a fly on the wall.” Except tweaked, for that particular vintage item. Re-angled to fit into the properties they inherently – having lasted through many years – hold.
The other day,
I found some really cool tennis rackets, for example, and wondered what conversations were had over the tennis games they had helped to make smooth.
There was also a chandelier – a beautiful one with clear little beads stacked together in the elegance of the ‘old’.
I had wondered whether it once hung in the dining room of a family, hovering over them during their dinner chats.
Or perhaps draping the space of a ballroom, hung there to display in beautiful classiness, and provide the soft glow needed for that special romantic dance.
I also saw slides, packed together in a box, each one holding a memory still, of days long lost.
But then I thought about the concept of resilience, and that it’s so much more than just a virtue for vintage items.
Resilience is such an important virtue (and not just for the #vintage items I love to photograph and collect!) for us too!
Many of us, in fact – parents, for example- are fascinated not only by the concept, but with the ways in which we can instill this in our children.
A New Yorker magazine article that covered it, back in 2016, wrote:
“If you are lucky enough to never experience any sort of #adversity, we won’t know how resilient you are. It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges: Do you succumb or do you surmount?”
An interesting commentary.
Here’s my question:
Is there ANYONE out there who hasn’t faced some stress or obstacle?
I do think that there are DEGREES of adversities that each of us face, but I do believe that each of one us faces our own stresses, even if they’re different types of stress.
I also wonder – and this is where I’m always curious to hear what others think – whether some of us are able to take on more than others. ie, I’m curious about the resilience we all naturally think of (like the magazine article mentions – the kind we develop from life experiences) vs the kind that’s built into our genes.
Is resilience all nurture and no nature?
I’m curious about the #resilience we all naturally think of - the kind we develop from #life experiences - vs the kind built into our genes. Is resilience all nurture and NO nature? Click To Tweet
Please Pin Me!
