The Art of Resiliency: Explained with Plants
- Kaitlin Knupp, BSW, RSW
- Sep 28
- 2 min read
Throughout my life, I have heard the phrase “you are so resilient”. What does that even mean and how do you become resilient?
Resiliency is basically the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult times or trauma. Although the term focuses on “quickly recovering” there is more too it than just “bouncing back”. The timeline is not the same for everyone, but resiliency can be attained with time and effort. Trying to explain resiliency is difficult so I would like to share a story about one of my plants and the resiliency I was able to see first hand.
Back in fall 2023 one of my friends gifted me this beautiful fern plant that she got from her neighbor. The fern was thriving and beautiful as it had spent the summer outside and now was going to become an indoor plan in my office. Similar to people, when a plant makes a significant environment change they go into shock
and sometimes they simply start to struggle. Within a few months my fern looked like it was going to die. All of my friends and colleagues suggested that I throw it out as there was no way it would come back to life.
I was determined. I researched all of the ways to save this fern and started by cutting off the dead leaves, watering it regularly, fertilizing weekly and speaking kindly to it (yes I actually talk to my plants). Slowly but surely it started to adapt to the indoor environment started to show growth. Now, almost 2 years later it is back to its full glory. Two years with a lot of doubt, determination and never giving up.
People are similar to my fern. Sometimes we go through difficult times that change us or bring us down but if we keep getting back up, nourishing ourselves and having patience, eventually we will bounce back. We may not have the same beautiful leaves we had before but we grow new and stronger ones so next time we go into “shock” we will know what to do.
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