In this unprecedented context, resilience is an urgent skill that must be strengthened, especially for younger generations, who, to this point, are feeling dizzy and paralyzed by the chaos and loud noise of the world. Thus, from my experience, I dare to say that mentorship is such a powerful tool to cultivate active resilience.
Resilience is described as the process and outcome of successfully adapting to challenging life experiences, and it is a complex skill because it requires mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility to work out. Through mentorship, we have the unique dynamic of learning together in a horizontal relationship, and that means that sometimes answers or solutions are found, and sometimes empathy and understanding are the outcome, and both are valuable to overcome uncertainty.
Let me give you an example. I remember reaching out to a mentor I met a couple of years ago. At that moment, she had an organized and stable life, and she walked me through the transition between college and my first job as a professional; her listening and advice were so on point, and I invited her to a call to catch up and solve some questions about looking for a different position and moving out alone. To my surprise, she started telling me about the several changes she was facing and how she felt at a low moment in her life. She got divorced and was also looking for a new job; she applied to many offers without a reply, and she tried different tools, but there were no proposals in sight. Then, I realized that maybe that was not the right meeting to pose questions; instead, we finally agreed on doing the search together and supporting each other in the learning process until we got somewhere. Just there, I found that challenges are not dismissed for good because you have got titles or experience, and that the feeling of being lost, along with another person, is also a great mentorship exercise.
Similarly, in the mentorship programs I have led, I usually find other mentors or even myself telling these young students when they fail and feel uncomfortable, “You are doing great, try again”, “That usually happens, don’t be so harsh”, “It is part of the experience”, or, like once happened to me after telling another mentor that I got fired for the first time, “I have been there too, that is actually normal, now go get something you truly like” I could never forget how my shame dropped and I felt more at ease with the situation, eventually I was ready to move on.
In conversations between Mentors and Mentees, resilience is built not only through strategies and advice but also through the quiet power of empathy and trust. Our colleagues, students, and mentees understand and cultivate this skill following the reflection of what it looks like to be resilient in mentors, creating the conditions for critical thinking and decision-making once the initial emotional hurricane is calmed down. Mentees are encouraged to reframe their challenges as opportunities for growth when they realize that if my mentor could solve this problem, get through that situation, or is facing a tough time with determination, I can do it as well. All these special moments of mentoring, from a less lonely and more realistic and hopeful perspective, are what allow for transforming constant challenges into pathways for personal and professional development.
Because at the end, resilience is not about denying worry and sorrow, it is about embracing it, learning from it, finding the way, the ways, and knowing those paths have already been paved, or are being walked right now by close people who care for us and who have thrived makes uncertainty less scary.
-Hannid Bautista
Hannid Bautista is a Colombian Social Scientist with extensive experience in leadership, community building, and mentoring programs management. She is passionate about human flourishing, life design, and building communities of belonging through educational and social projects.
She was a Mentee of the second cohort of Mentors4u Colombia.
