Connect through stories

Stories have the power to inspire, strengthen, and heal. And the stories we tell, especially about how we overcome adversity, help shape how we think about our lives. We have a lot to learn from each other and a lot to say. What’s your story?

Connect through stories

Explore stories by category

Stories of resilience

“When you go through a really hard time there are things that you can learn. And they make you stronger.”

“I’ve left Syria, but I’m not free. The fight starts when you flee. But it doesn’t have an end.”

“If I didn’t pull this off, my family was gone. So I gave it everything I had.”

“She's always going to be in our memory. She's always going to be in our hearts.”

“I’ve got nothing to lose in trying to live the biggest life I can.”

“I’d always been the moon to my mom’s bright shining sun. How do you live without the sun?”

“Option B means realizing that you’re reinventing yourself. There’s no rule book. There’s no guide. It’s about going back to life”

“On my eighteenth birthday, I was sent to prison with a sentence of fifteen years and two felonies.”

“Having two kids with muscular dystrophy has changed how we view the future. We seize every chance to enjoy the time we have.”

“I am a motherless daughter, now fatherless too, but I am not without heart and resilience and grit.”

“When I was 15, I found out I was pregnant. I just didn’t want to believe it.”

“Walking alongside a child who is grieving is unlike anything else.”

“My dad discovered he had a son less than a minute before he discovered he had lost his son.”

“When you’re a person the world is trying to erase, enjoying the world is truly radical. It’s a revolutionary act.”

“For the first time, I was truly choosing to happen to life, rather than letting life happen to me. I was choosing resiliency.”

“I’ve helped others heal, which gives me an immense sense of meaning and purpose.”

“My grandma told me that once I shake someone’s hand, my disability goes away.”

“Our first challenge was to protect her, to let her know that she was valued. And heard. And believed.”

“I instantly connected him to Leo. I felt that maybe the universe was trying to tell me something.”

“I want more people to understand that women don’t have to be abused.”

“My diagnosis was a turning point.”

“I have to keep going for the kids, but more than that, I’m sustained by the thought that I mustn’t let George down.”

“I had always thought, ‘What’s in it for me?’ But seeing these volunteer teachers inspired me to give back.”

“It was something that was swept under the rug. We didn’t talk about it for many years.”

“The hardest part was realizing that my life would be put on pause.”

How to conquer loneliness during the holidays

Grief may change some holiday traditions, but you can create new ones

“For anyone who has experienced a great loss or setback, you will laugh again, you will smile again, and you will find joy.”

“I got the greatest help from an unexpected source—my amazing children.”

“We continued to thrive to the extent possible because an army of loved ones held us fast through the tortured holiday season.”

“I will strengthen my grief muscle—one day and well-meaning question at a time.”

The holidays are hard if you struggle with mental illness—don’t blame yourself

“My desire to experience Christmas authentically was my motivation to come out to my family.”

“When we lose someone we love, we should remember that the person has not become nothing.”

“Thanks to my friend and her mom, I was saved from a pretty awful holiday—and found a husband.”

“For the most part, the day felt like any other Christmas.”

"We grieve because we love. How lucky we are to have experienced that love."

"I look back and wonder how I survived knowing that he was dying. It was unstoppable."

But you never let the heavy load you were carrying crush you. Instead every day you grew stronger. Every day brave and resilient.

Photography credits

Resilience is like a muscle. We’re here to help you build it.

Join our community on Facebook

Sign up for our monthly newsletter

Sign up for tips and updates

How do you want to sign up?

Tell us what you're interested in...

Tell us what you're interested in...

Start by telling us what you’re here for

Which of these is most relevant to the challenges you're facing?

Which of these is most relevant to the challenges they're facing?

Resilience is like a muscle.
We’re here to help you build it.