Review: Resilience by Eric Greitens
A couple years ago, I sat down in a bookstore and read Navy SEAL Eric Greiten’s first book, The Heart And The Fist and subsequently wrote a review. In my bookstore exploration I also discovered he had just written a new book, Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom For Living A Better Life. During that time I also discovered Greitens was also running for Governor of Missouri.
Honestly, the title of Greitens’ book (along with the excellence of his other book) drew me toward reading it. Whether in discussing the lives of farmers and their families in our work at Nuru or talking about personal perseverance, the word resilience has become quite a popular word in my estimation. And, similar to Greitens, I also believe that resilience is a skill to be developed as well as a purposeful way of living life. As he says, “Resilient people do not bounce back from hard experiences, they find healthy ways to integrate them into their lives.” And “Resilience is the key to a well-lived life.”
The book was originally a set of letters sent to a friend and fellow SEAL who was encountering a series of hardships back on the home front. Greitens edited the letters to make them available and accessible to a wider audience, and they really are robust and thoughtful pieces whether read individually or as a whole. As I read the book, I found myself filled with gratitude for incredible friends who have (similar to Eric with his friend) spoken truth and shared wisdom with me.
The chapters of the book walk through subjects including why resilience is important and what it is, and then offers a series of practical tools that everyone should seek out to develop their own resilience. Greitens reminds his friend (and his readers that everyone can develop resilience, but no one can do it for you, and it takes time, intentionality, and hard work. He also spends chapter after chapter reminding his readers of the tools and benefits of resilience, and roots his writing in both lived experience and historic literature.
If you are looking for a book to explore and improve your own resilience, I highly recommend Resilience by former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. It bears repeating though that buying the book will not develop your resilience. Only you can do that, and the fact that you can do it is, in itself, an incredible gift. May we each seek the mentors, the motivation, and the mindful discipline to cultivate resilience in our lives for the good of ourselves and our world.