Resilience – What can we learn from Anne Frank?

Resilience – What can we learn from Anne Frank?
by Dagmar Bryant

When I use the word resilience, what springs to mind for you?

In many ways, resilience evokes the concept of adaptability and flexibility, the capacity to adjust and thrive in the face of change or unexpected circumstances.

It implies having a positive mindset, perseverance, and the willingness to learn from setbacks, using them as opportunities for growth.

One young lady in history who had incredible perseverance was Anne Frank.

Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl, emerged as an iconic figure through her moving diary, which chronicles her life in seclusion amidst the harrowing persecution inflicted by the Nazis. Her diary captures the essence of everyday existence as she and her family hid in an attic in Amsterdam.

Tragically, Anne Frank fell victim to the Holocaust, becoming one of its most extensively discussed Jewish casualties. Following her untimely death, her diary was posthumously published in 1947 as “The Diary of a Young Girl”.  This profound literary work provides a detailed account of her hidden life from 1942 to 1944 during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

While the story itself is a tragic account of her experiences, it also shows someone who was willing to adapt to the circumstances in the only way she knew how, to write an account of it.

We, ourselves, may not have lived through a war but some parts of our lives may have felt, at times, like a war zone. That may have been through shitty relationships, difficult family members or intimidating bosses and work colleagues.

We’ve all gone through experiences, some worse than others, and it has made us who we are today.

If we can take away the learnings from those experiences, and leave behind the circumstances and emotion, we can uncover the ‘why’ of why these things happened to us.

Think about your life experiences and how they have helped you become stronger and more resilient.

Now celebrate who you are today and how resilient you have become.

Please tell us what you think of her ordeal in the Comments below

Love Dagmar

Postscript note from Jean
Last year I saw a play based on the full story of Anne Frank as told in her diary. What I didn’t know was that she wasn’t arrested from her home in an early morning raid.

She spent two years cramped in a warehouse attic with 7 other people. They were unable to go out and had to spend all day creeping around in stockinged feet and speaking in whispers so that the people working below would not hear them.

Meanwhile Anne freely admits she was going through all the tempestuous mood swings and tantrums that accompany teenage years and had to contain them, in order not to betray herself and her companions.

Please tell us what you think of her ordeal in the Comments below

Love Dagmar

Dagmar is a Coach and Speaker on Resilience, Empowerment and Wellbeing.

Dagmar Bryant PhD – Business Coach     linkedin.com/in/dagmar-bryant