What can Churchill and David Beckham teach us about survival?

Ten years ago, the word “resilience” — our ability to spring back from setbacks – was far from fashionable. Yes, we might have used the term to describe our great-uncle (if he was up that garden ladder again, shortly after a knee operation), or our close friend (if she was putting on a brave face for the children’s sake while ploughing through a messy divorce), but that was about it. Now, however, resilience has become the new buzz word.

After all, we hardly need the razor-sharp mind of Sherlock Holmes to spot how ubiquitous resilience has become. Turn one way, for example, and we find schools (such as the Kipp schools in the United States and Wellington College in the UK) providing resilience classes not only for their pupils, but also for their pupils’ parents.

Turn the other, and we find businesses — from global pharmaceutical giants to local county councils – placing resilience training at the heart of their learning and development programmes. And, of course, let’s not forget that popular “Keep Calm and Carry On” strap-line, which has appeared on everything from coffee cups to cushions, and T-shirts to tea towels. So what on earth has happened? What has changed? Continue reading.

Originally posted on Telegraph.Wellbeing.