Series: Nature, Preservation and Exploration. Episode: 13
Resilience is not the absence of disruption. It is what remains after it.
After learning to notice growth without judgement, this week we turn to what happens when growth is interrupted, when life breaks rhythm, and how nature shows us what resilience really looks like.
1. What Happens After a Storm
After a storm, the landscape looks changed.
Branches scattered.
Soil shifted.
Paths altered.
But rarely is it ruined.
Within days, life begins to reorganise.
Leaves turn toward the light.
Water settles into new channels.
Birds return.
Nature does not rush to restore what was.
It adapts to what is.
Resilience in the wild is not about bouncing back to the same shape.
It is about finding balance again, even if that balance looks different.
2. Resilience Is Not What We Think It Is
We often imagine resilience as toughness.
Endurance.
Pushing through without pause.
Psychological research challenges this idea.
George Bonanno’s work on resilience shows that most people respond to adversity not through dramatic transformation or breakdown, but through flexible adaptation. They stabilise. They continue. They adjust their expectations and routines to fit new conditions.
Resilience, in this sense, is ordinary.
Quiet.
Unremarkable.
Much like nature after a storm.
3. Why Recovery Is Often Invisible
In nature, recovery is rarely obvious at first.
Roots stabilise soil long before leaves return.
Microorganisms rebuild ecosystems beneath the surface.
Human recovery works the same way.
After emotional disruption, illness, loss, or change, progress often happens internally before it shows externally.
Energy redistributes.
Perspective shifts.
New boundaries form.
When we expect resilience to look like visible strength, we miss its most important work.
Sometimes resilience looks like rest.
Sometimes it looks like reduced expectations.
Sometimes it looks like choosing stability over growth.
4. Letting the Landscape Change You
Nature does not resist change after a storm.
It responds.
Trees that survive lean differently.
Rivers adjust their course.
Habitats reshape.
Bonanno’s research highlights this same principle in humans. The ability to adjust goals, reinterpret circumstances, and remain emotionally flexible predicts better long-term wellbeing than rigid perseverance.
Resilience is not about holding on.
It is about responding.
When we allow disruption to inform us rather than define us, recovery becomes possible without force.
5. Trusting the Slow Return
Nature does not demand immediate renewal.
It allows time.
Grass grows when conditions are right.
Animals return when safety is restored.
Resilience follows the same timeline.
You do not need to feel strong to be resilient.
You do not need to feel hopeful to be recovering.
If you are still here, still adapting, still adjusting your footing, resilience is already happening.
🌷 The Weekly Pinky Promise
This week, I promise to respect my own recovery rather than rush it.
That might mean allowing rest.
Lowering expectations.
Letting things remain unfinished for a while.
Resilience does not need to be proven.
🌾 The Wild Action
Notice signs of recovery in nature this week.
Look for new growth after damage.
Plants reclaiming disturbed ground.
Life returning quietly.
Let it remind you that recovery does not announce itself.
It unfolds.
💗 Additional Resources for Connection
- Research on resilience and adaptation by George Bonanno
- Writing on ecological recovery and disturbance in nature
- Reflections on resilience in environmental psychology
- Journal Prompt – Where in my life am I already adapting, even if it does not look like strength yet?
🌸 Closing Reflection – The Gentle Revolution
Nature does not deny storms.
It absorbs them.
It changes shape.
It finds new balance.
It continues.
Resilience is not heroic.
It is responsive.
And if you are still adjusting, still learning where to place your feet, you are not behind.
You are recovering.
Leave a Reply