Resilience: From Surviving to Thriving. Are You Ready?
- Cécile Bastien Remy
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
There is a question I have been sitting with lately:
What if resilience is not about bouncing back, but about rising stronger than before?
Today, I want to share something personal with you and invite you into an experience.
One Insight
Resilience is not endurance. It is transformation. Too often, we believe resilience means “holding it together.” Being strong. Not breaking. Continuing no matter what, but true resilience is not about surviving pressure. It is about using pressure to grow and that changes everything.
One Story
May 2020. COVID had already shaken the world. I was working part-time in a software support role while building my business on the side. Like many, I was navigating uncertainty but I felt relatively safe.
Then came the Townhall when the CEO spoke clearly: “No one will lose their job. We are safe for the next four months.”
Relief. Yet, exactly one week later, my boss walked to my desk. Shoulders heavy. Face pale. “Cécile, we have to let you go. You have 30 minutes to clear your desk.” Eight years of loyalty, one promise from management, 30 minutes to disappear. It felt like a punch in the stomach. Unfair. Betrayal. Shock.
But there was still Switzerland’s unemployment support or so I thought. At the RAV office, a smiling gentleman explained, kindly but firmly: Because I was part-time self-employed, I did not qualify for unemployment benefits. Uppercut.
Within weeks: All private coaching clients cancelled, Corporate budgets froze, My income dropped to zero, I had eight months of liquidity left. That was it. I felt angry, anxious, alone and responsible for my family, for my future, for my identity. At the end of May, I was knocked out then a quiet voice inside me said: “You have faced worse. You know how to Bounce Forward.”
That shift from “Why me?” to “What now?” became the foundation of my TEDx talk Bounce Forward. It also became the core of my work with leaders and organizations across Europe. Resilience is never about returning to your old self. It is about expanding into your next level.
One Tool
Here is a simple reflection I use with executives: Ask yourself in moments of pressure:
1. What is in my control?
2. What meaning am I giving this situation?
3. Who do I choose to be in this moment?
Resilience grows in that space between stimulus and response, it is a practice and like any practice, it can be trained.
Make it Stick
In a world of constant change, high expectations, and invisible pressure, resilience is no longer a “nice to have", it is a strategic leadership skill. Resilience cannot be downloaded from a podcast or understood only intellectually. It must be experienced.
That is why I am planning to host an immersive evening: From Surviving to Thriving. This is not just a talk. It is an experience combining lived story, science, leadership insights, and interactive reflection.
(More information to follow in Q2 of 20206)
Try it This Week
Before the event, try this: When something stressful happens, instead of asking “Why is this happening to me?”, ask: “How might this grow me?” and notice what shifts. If you are ready to go deeper, to move from surviving to truly thriving I would love to see you there.
et Voilà
With warmth and strength,
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