Resilience Through My Eyes - A Young Person's Perspective

2 minute read.

Nicole joined the Emergencies Partnership for a week of work experience and wrote a blog exploring the meaning of resilience from a young person’s perspective.

As a young person, I have been participating in work experience with the VCS Emergencies Partnership team, focusing on values such as resilience. In a dynamic world, the younger generation must be inspired by their peers to develop into leaders who can shape our future. Resilience is a major part of life, and building this skill to me means that we can have the courage and perseverance to achieve the best standard we want.

Resilience in our everyday lives

There are times when we may feel we struggle with resilience, and times where we may excel in it. Building resilience is a challenge, as the outcome is not always foreseeable, so there can be struggles knowing if it is even worth it to do what we do. A major part of resilience is ensuring that we recognise the people around us and knowing that there are people who will be acknowledging your efforts and supporting you. With this, we can be inspired to feel more resilient, as it can be a skill that we struggle with when we feel as though we are alone in our efforts; however, everyone is trying and problem-solving every day!

In relation to young people, we will encounter situations that require resilience every day. For example, when COVID-19 hit us, our education was affected; for some, this meant that they struggled with SATs, GCSEs, A-levels, or other courses. As a result of this, we have been dealing with the cost of living and the struggles to be as independent as our parents were at our age. It is important to recognise that many of our youth around the world face greater struggles, including conflicts and crises. All these unique situations that each person faces will be tackled differently, all using resilience to determination to get through - it is a universal skill that unites us in our fluctuating lives.

Lastly, to ensure that young people are supported in their environments, they should be given a space to be heard, by listening to their voices and allowing chances to improve, or to build upon their skills