The Oxford English Dictionary defines resilience as “the ability of people or things to recover quickly after something unpleasant, such as shock or injury.”
When I think about how we build resilience in young people today, I’m reminded of a driving experience from a few years ago. I was on the highway in extremely bad weather, so severe that many drivers had pulled over, waiting it out on the roadside. I chose instead to take what felt like the “path less travelled” and keep going.
It wasn’t easy. The conditions were daunting, and I found myself questioning my decision more than once. Yet within a few hundred metres, I had driven out of the storm and into clear skies, while those who had pulled over remained in the bad weather far longer.
That experience stayed with me. It raises an important question: how do we encourage young people to keep “driving forward”, rather than pulling over, when they encounter difficulty, failure or setbacks?
Although resilience is explored within our PSHE curriculum, it is rarely the theory alone that makes it meaningful. More often, it is through real experiences, facing challenges and working through them, that resilience truly develops. Paradoxically, it is these “unpleasant” moments that provide the strongest lessons. While we would never wish “unpleasant” situations upon young people, such experiences give them the opportunity to practise resilience, strengthening it each time they persevere.
Our role in building resilience in young people is to help them resist the urge to “pull over” when they encounter difficult situations. As tempting as it can be to offer them an easier way out, we need instead to encourage them to keep going. That path is often the less travelled one; it takes courage, persistence and a willingness to face discomfort. Yet it is precisely this effort that strengthens their resilience, equipping them to handle the inevitable challenges and setbacks that life will bring.
Let’s build resilience in young people by encouraging them not to “pull over”, but to drive through life’s storms, because strength isn’t found in waiting them out, but in moving through them.
Mrs Jennifer Garnett
Assistant Headteacher, Wellbeing and Behaviour