A reading list for resilience in uncertain times
/At the beginning of our first lockdown, COVID felt like some exciting war-time-era resistance effort: stay home, save lives. I could picture those yellow and white posters lining 1940s storefronts. It felt very important, this strange new era that was upon us. Now, it feels like we’ve been stuck in a dank underground bunker for far too long. How has it only been five or six months? This strange sense of time stopping and starting, and the change in all of our routines, including moving up and down through alert levels, is very trying.
There are a handful of books I’ve read over the years that have given me tried and tested resources for resilience, or taught me about mental strength. I’ve found a new burst of energy from reading these books, even when I wasn’t feeling particularly resilient at the time.
I hope this short list inspires you – feel free to recommend books you’ve found helpful, in the comments.
Playing Big, The Present, and Resilience
1. The Present – Spencer Johnson
“The present is a gift that you give to yourself.”
Written in 2003, Spencer Johnson put the ‘mind’ in ‘mindfulness’ way before all those influencers on Instagram. My Mum put this book into my hands, and I read it around 2003 or 2004 – my last year of high school/first year of university (yes, I am that old). That was definitely a time when the future felt overwhelming and all-consuming. ‘The Present’ was the first time I recall learning about how to stay focused in the present, while trying to only examine the past when it’s teaching you something and the future when you want to create a better state than today. Written in very simple prose, it’s the one book that has taught me what I know about staying focused in the present moment rather than day-dreaming or fretting about tomorrow.
2. Resilience: hard won wisdom for living a better life – Eric Greitens
“Both a panicked mind and a resilient mind will engage with fearful, anxious thoughts. What makes the resilient mind different is its ability to direct those thoughts productively.”
I’m including this book in my resilience list not just because of the title, but because when I read this book two years ago after having surgery, I really needed some words to help me deal with uncertainty. This book helped a lot - it’s written as a series of letters between two Navy Seals, as they find strength and move through pain. Its filled with extracts from Roman philosophers and anecdotes from Navy Seal training which made me feel very lazy. Imagine having no sleep for three days and doing navy drills that whole time – the horror! I enjoyed the juxtaposition of old wisdom with a new mentally-tough philosophy.
3. Playing Big – Tara Mohr
“It took me quite some time to grasp that when I am playing big, criticism comes my way. There’s nothing I can do to avoid that happening and often nothing I need to do about it.”
This book was written for women wanting to get more out of their careers, so it’s mostly about resilience in your work. One of its pivotal concepts is that you can be your own mentor. This concept of trusting ourselves, and trusting that we do have the answers, is quite different to other messages we see about finding role models and mentors ‘higher up the career ladder’ to guide us and look up to. ‘Playing Big’ contains journaling exercises and encourages readers to visualise themselves in the future in order to really get in touch with their dreams and goals – in many ways, it’s a much more spiritual book than the other two I’ve recommended.
What books, stories, or words of wisdom, have helped you through uncertain times?
