I have endured things that have shattered me and could

have left me broken, but they didn’t.

I am resilient –

I endured our house burning to the ground.

I am resilient –

I have endured pain, loss, and sorrow that have knocked me to my knees, but I rose again.

I am resilient –

I have endured decades of living and loving and loss.

I am resilient.

I have survived a bus tumbling over an embankment in the Smoky

Mountains after the driver went to sleep.

I am resilient –

I have endured physical pain – broken bones, split body parts that required stitches, autoimmune disorders.

I have stepped on rusty nails, fallen off bicycles, had a finger and a leg slammed in a car door. I’ve had black eyes and bruises too numerous to count.

I am resilient –

I have endured emotional pain – the loss of 2 children, my father, my mother and my favorite aunt.

I am resilient –

I have endured divorce.

I am resilient –

I have endured precancerous cells in my cervix.

I am resilient –

I have endured 26 years of teaching middle school.

I am resilient –

I can be bent, but not broken, knocked down, but not kept down –  I get up again and keep moving forward.

My spirit is supple – I am strong.

I love life – the hard times have made me appreciate the better times. I love nature – it sustains and restores me –  its scents, sounds, and sights fill me when I begin to feel empty.

Nature nourishes me, and reinforces my resilience.

I am resilient. I am strong. I am irrepressible.