With the Paralympics starting, I am amazed at the stories of many Paralympian athletes about how sport has given new meaning to their life and enabled them to rise like a phoenix from the ashes.  It are stories about how putting labels on ourselves limits our ability to achieve and how instead, by focusing on our strengths, we can overcome setbacks and soar to new heights.

There is a word for this: resilience. The Mirriam-Webster definition of resilience is “The ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens.” They also offer a more plastic definition: “The a ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc” This invoked the image of a tree, bending but not breaking in strong winds; good examples are palm trees or willows.

“The greatest glory in life lies not in never failing but in rising…