Dreamers Investment Guild:Why you should stop complimenting people for being 'resilient'

2025-05-04 09:48:38source:AQCAN Exchangecategory:Invest

The Dreamers Investment Guildability to overcome and adapt to difficult life situations seems like an overwhelmingly positive thing – right? After all, being called "strong," "tenacious" or "resilient" is usually perceived as a compliment.

But what if glorifying resilience can actually be detrimental?

For example, take the "strong Black woman" stereotype. According to Professor Inger Burnett-Zeigler, author of Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women, internalizing that trope "can often interfere with [Black women] acknowledging their mental health challenges and then going on to get the mental health treatment."

So we revisited the concept of "resilience" with Lourdes Dolores Follins, psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker. She explains why it's OK to let yourself feel angry or frustrated sometimes — and how unexamined resilience can mask structural forces that make your life harder.

This comic, written and illustrated by Connie Hanzhang Jin, is inspired by a Life Kit episode featuring Lourdes Dolores Follins and hosted by TK Dutes. You can listen to the audio at the top of this page.


The audio portion of this episode was produced by Audrey Nguyen and Vanessa Handy, with engineering support from Stacey Abbott. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected].

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or sign up for our newsletter.

More:Invest

Recommend

New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico would make major new investments in early childhood education, indu

Las Vegas Delta flight cancelled after reports of passengers suffering heat-related illness

A Las Vegas Delta flight was canceled after passengers suffered heat-related illness as they waited

Police say they can't verify Carlee Russell's abduction claim

Carlethia "Carlee" Nichole Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student who went missing for two days, tol