“When I think of the phrase ‘You’re always a day late and a dollar short,’ I also think about resilience—the ability to recover from or adjust easily to, despite hard luck or change,” writes Helanius J. Wilkins in a poignant essay published in the National Performance Network (NPN) blog. “One of my earliest lessons about resilience came through observing my father.”
Wilkins shares an intimate story about his relationship with his father, learning to unlearn and relearn, and how a practice of walking in solace became essential for navigating a pandemic. “His experience taught me that resilience is a cyclical process of learning, unlearning, relearning, and how in the relearning, new insights can be gained about the self, others, and the world around us,” Wilkins reflects.