Deck to Page #16
Deck: Mindful Souls ‘Soul Bridges’
Category: Overcome = Let’s Talk about challenges and lessons
Prompt: “Tell me about a time you surprised yourself with your resilience.”
For a long time, I didn’t recognize my resilience because it didn’t look the way I thought it was supposed to. I had internalized the idea that resilience meant toughness, certainty, or powering through without hesitation. What I’ve come to understand is that resilience often shows up in much quieter ways.
I surprised myself with my adaptability.
There was a period in my life when I moved constantly—at one point, fourteen times in three years. At the time, I didn’t label that as strength. I wasn’t reflecting on it or drawing meaning from it. I was simply doing what was required: packing boxes, unpacking them again, learning new layouts, new neighborhoods, new rhythms—reorienting myself over and over.
Looking back now, I can see what those years quietly taught me. Each move required me to adjust without fully unraveling. To create a sense of grounding internally when nothing external felt stable. Home stopped being something fixed or guaranteed and became something I learned to carry within myself.
That kind of adaptability changes you.
It sharpens your awareness. It teaches you how to read environments quickly. It shows you what you need in order to feel safe—and how to provide that safety for yourself when it isn’t readily available.
I can also see more clearly now the difference between resilience and endurance. There were times when I stayed longer than I should have—in jobs, in relationships, and in dynamics that slowly asked me to make myself smaller. At the time, that staying was about survival. It was about keeping the peace, maintaining stability, and avoiding more disruption.
That endurance wasn’t a failure.
It was a strategy.
And like many strategies we develop early on, it served a purpose—until it no longer did.
What surprises me most now is how every one of those experiences—both the adaptability and the endurance—shaped the work I do today. They taught me how to sit with uncertainty without rushing it. How to recognize when someone is surviving versus when they are truly resourcing themselves. How to meet people where they are, without judgment, and without trying to move them faster than they’re ready to go.
Nothing I lived through was wasted.
The lessons didn’t arrive all at once. They unfolded slowly, over time, and often only became clear in hindsight. But they became integrated—woven into how I listen, how I support, and how I understand resilience now.
Resilience, I’ve learned, isn’t about how much you can tolerate.
It’s about what you integrate, what you learn to release, and how your experiences deepen your capacity to live—and to serve—more honestly.
Reflection for You
- Where has resilience shown up quietly in your life?
- What experiences shaped your ability to adapt or endure?
- What lessons do you now recognize as essential to who you are today?
Sometimes resilience isn’t dramatic or visible to others.
Sometimes it’s simply the moment you realize:
I adapted—and I’m still here.
Theresa
Flexible Being
Empowering Your Journey to Healing, Clarity, and Self-Discovery.
Thank you for being here. If you enjoyed this post, there’s plenty more where that came from, everything from soulful healing tips to playful prompts and real conversations about life.
Find me and connect today. I want to learn about your story:
Email: theresa@flexiblebeing.com
Website: www.flexiblebeing.com
Instagram:
@theresamartinezshapiro
@flexiblebeing
Facebook:
@flexiblebeingonline
Theresa Martinez-Shapiro
Hello! I am Theresa Martinez-Shapiro; Wife to Robert. Founder of Flexible Being. A Master Reiki Therapist, Certified Oracle Guide, Spiritual Mentor/Guide, Intuitive Empath, Coach, and Educator. I am a fur mom to 3 cats and 1 dog – Sonny, Patches, Ryelee, and Winnie. We currently live and practice in Stockton, California. We operate three businesses – Shapiro Holistic Health and Chiropractic, Fusion Health APC, and Synergy Health MSO, where we seek to improve and change the lives of our patients and those we have the privilege of crossing paths with. My healing and mentoring journey began around 5 years old when I discovered that I was put on this planet to help others. I knew I was different, unique, and gifted. I did not see the world the same way everyone else did, and recognized I was meant to do so much more. I began to research, spending a lot of time reading & asking a lot of questions to anyone that wanted to share stories about their life experiences. I am a dreamer and had a unique relationship with the dream world. My very real, vivid & lucid dreams began turning into out-of-body experiences and unexplained occurrences. I began doing my own dream interpretations to look for patterns & a new way of deciphering life. Family members were part of many different religions, so I was educated in Catholicism, Buddhism, Metaphysics, and Native American culture & beliefs. Along the way, I took up multiple mentors that cultivated my growth and expansion of my gifts, allowing me to focus on my potential and purpose. As an adult, coworkers were unloading their life stories, internal secrets, and things that had not been shared or even spoken out loud. I began to share those experiences with my aunt & Reiki Master/Teacher, Carmen. In 2012, Carmen told me, “I think you are ready to walk the path I always knew you were meant to walk”. That saying began my obsessive journey into Reiki, Spirituality, Psychology, Intuition and Psychic gifts, Meditation and Mindfulness, Past Lives, Consciousness, Energy Medicine, Mysteries of the Universe, Moon and Sun cycles, Astrology, Numerology, Oracle Cards, Shamanism, & so much more. My journey has helped me to assist patients, clients, families, and friends discover who they have been, who they are, and who they want to become. I am expanding my reach and educating others by authoring Musings of a Flexible Being, and I look forward to sharing my journey with you. Thank you! Theresa Martinez-Shapiro Flexible Being Website: www.flexiblebeing.com Socials: Facebook: @flexiblebeingonline Instagram:@theresamartinezshapiro Instagram: @flexiblebeing
