The Secret to Building Resilience

img

While, clearly, a portion of Jacob’s fortitude (坚韧) came from personal strength, our discussion with him revealed a number of ways that relationships bolstered (支撑着的；加固的) his resilience. A patchwork (拼凑而成) of different people in his network collectively played a critical role in helping Jacob navigate and survive this extraordinary period — each offering a different perspective or helping hand (援助之手) in some way (在某些方面；在某种程度上). First, his boss was a continual source of input and validation, boosting Jacob’s confidence as he faced unprecedented medical and leadership challenges. “She always made herself available and these interactions helped me quit worrying endlessly about different decisions.” In addition, he tapped into (接近) the strong working relationship he had with another department head (部门主管，系主任) to jointly (共同地) manage surges in workload. The resources he was able to “borrow” from this colleague enabled him to push back (向后推，推迟) on non-essential work, as well as bypass typical bureaucratic (官僚的) gridlock (交通堵塞, 僵局) to secure (保护，获得) resources. “At a couple of really important junctures (接缝；连接；接合), this helped us from getting over-run.” And a very strong chief of staff (参谋长，办公室主任) stepped in and took ownership of several work-streams put in place to help deal with Covid. For Jacob, knowing that this reliable person had those domains in hand “took stress from a 10 to an 8 many times.” Even his daily exchanges (交流) with his office manager played a critical role — she was able to find ways to laugh with him even under this stress. “It wasn’t gallows humor (充满怨恨的幽默；化解严重场面或僵局的幽默), but sarcastic (挖苦的) comments about difficult people or situations that lightened things for us and made us feel on the same team,” he recalled.

Jacob was also lucky in that his home was a critical refuge (避难；避难所) for him through this time. His wife, who also had a medical background, provided an outlet to vent (表达，发泄) that yielded both empathy and possible solutions. His children even played a role that he did not realize until past the early crisis: “They were proud of me. They would tell me this, and it was better than anything else to help me buckle down (倾全力；开始认真从事) and keep pushing through.”

In short, Jacob shows us that resilience is found not just in having a network of supporters, but in truly connecting with them when you need them most. It’s in the actual interactions themselves — the conversations that validate your plans, reframe your perspective on a situation, help you laugh and feel authentic (真实的；可信的) with others, or just encourage you to get back up (重新站起来) and try again because the battle is a worthy one — that we become resilient. Yes, we’re all told to build a network to help further our careers, but what’s important to understand is how essential these relationships can also be to our day-to-day emotional well-being — if we are building these relationships in the right way as we progress through our careers. Relationships may be our most undervalued resources.

援助之手：helping hand

在某种程度上：in some way

部门主管，系主任：department head

倾尽全力认真做事：buckle down

See you tomorrow