Resilience

We all encounter situations that make us ask ourselves, “how am I ever going to make it through this?” The answer to the question is resilience. Having “an attitude that enables the individual to examine, enhance and utilize the strengths, characteristics and other resources available” (Harrington, 2012) is what enables us to make it through tough situations. For me, the toughest obstacle I have had to overcome is being thrown into my current position as a store manager.

I had been with the company for a little over a year in a lower management level position when my store manager got promoted. The decision was made not to hire a replacement Store Manager, and I was promoted to co-assistant manager. Within two weeks of my promotion, my co-assistant manager quit. I was now in charge of the store, and was scared to death. I had no idea what I was doing. I begged my boss to hire a store manager, but he refused. He assured me that I would figure it out and be a great store manager.

I had no idea how to run a business, but I was determined that I would excel in my new position. I would always try to solve problems on my own first, reading through company resource books, reviewing policies, and sometimes resorting to trial and error. I reached out to other store managers for help, and shadowed them in their stores. I spent hours on the phone with our company help line trying to solve issues. Slowly but surely, I became proficient in most aspects of the