What is Resilience? Understanding Individual and Collective Resilience

Explaining resilience, why resilience matters in 2025, and the importance of climate resilience.

Photo by Karim MANJRA on Unsplash

The past year has played host to climate catastrophes, economic uncertainty, ascendant authoritarianism around the world, the prospect of tech disruption (e.g., artificial intelligence), and other forms of volatility. While much of this precarity is beyond our control, developing resilience is something that we as individuals and collectives can do to improve our chances of survival and even thriving amid the turbulence.

Resilience has emerged as an area of deep, ongoing research in my foresight practice, so I decided to create The Reality Studies Resilience Manual to provide quick snapshots of popular terms and topics in resilience.

These are intended to complement the deeper analysis of climate resilience and how foresight methodologies can be applied to polycrisis—ensuring that readers are always clear on the basics (and on how I’m using these terms in Reality Studies).

The Meaning of Resilience

Definition of resilience:

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and adapt in the face of adversity, trauma, threats, or stress. It’s not simply about bouncing back, but also about learning and growing from challenging experiences.

Individual resilience (sometimes referred to as personal resilience) encompasses emotional, mental, and sometimes physical strength that enables an individual to face setbacks without losing sight of future opportunities.

Collective resilience refers to the ability of a community, ecosystem, or other collective entity to withstand adversity and adapt to challenges without permanent destruction.

As I explained in “Psychological Resilience and the Benefits of Resilience Counseling,” the study of resilience is highly complex. Christine Agaibi and John Wilson highlight this complexity in “Trauma, PTSD, and Resilience,” laying out five different ways to define (and therefore understand) psychological resilience (you can read about those five in that post)—much less factoring for forms of collective resilience such as organizational resilience or resilience within ecosystems.

My point in saying this is not to get lost in those weeds, but rather to include the reminder that even though I’m attempting to present the topics accessibly here, they are ultimately complex and the subject of ongoing debate.

What Does it Mean to Be Resilient?

Being resilient means possessing the inner psychological and emotional strength to face and overcome challenges while maintaining a sense of purpose and direction. A resilient person doesn’t avoid difficulties but instead is able to view obstacles as opportunities for growth and learning.

Whether it’s overcoming personal loss or navigating large-scale disruptions, resilient behavior involves maintaining hope, staying connected (and contributing) to support systems, and using challenges as a springboard for personal or collective development.

This quality involves emotional regulation, problem-solving skills, and the ability to seek support when needed. Resilient individuals are often characterized by optimism, flexibility, and perseverance—qualities that not only help them recover from setbacks but also thrive despite ongoing challenges. In everyday life, being resilient might mean adjusting to a sudden job loss by learning new skills or coping with personal setbacks by leaning on a network of supportive friends and family. Ultimately, resilience is about building a robust internal framework that allows you to navigate life’s uncertainties with confidence and courage.

In essence, resilience is a blend of preparation, recovery, and growth—both process and outcome—offering a pathway to transform hardship into wisdom and strength.

Different people will have different levels of resilience, but it’s not a fixed intrinsic quality; it can be cultivated through intentional practice, self-care strategies, and external support. To the latter point, there is a whole field called “psychological resilience” (sometimes also “resilience psychology”), which refers to the study of how individuals cope with and recover from stressful or traumatic experiences—as well as resilience counseling that individuals can undertake.

Resilience vs. Resiliency

The terms “resilience” and “resiliency” are often used interchangeably, and essentially refer to the same concept: the ability to recover from or adjust to adversity. That said, some contexts and industries may prefer one term over the other. “Resilience” is more commonly used in academic and psychological discussions, while “resiliency” might appear in engineering or business contexts.

Some, such as Nina Flagler Hall, have argued that “resilience” is actually the correct term—this is the perspective I align with—drawing on etymology:

Ian [Johnson] also points out that the suffix -cy is used for abstract nouns, whereas resiliens is the present participle of resilire (Latin: to rebound, recoil), which translates into a non-abstract meaning: the act of rebounding. The abstract -cy can be read, then, as the tendency to rebound. Building resiliency might improve your tendency—or inclination—to rebound, while building resilience would improve the actual performance of rebounding. Obviously, both are good, and the general difference lies in the “potential vs. kinetic” action of rebounding. And, as we all know, you should always chose the action word.

Why is Resilience Important in 2025? Understanding Resilience in Polycrisis

Individual resilience is more critical than ever because our personal capacity to adapt, recover, and grow under stress directly influences not only our wellbeing but also our ability to thrive amid unprecedented global challenges—which unfortunately appear to be increasing in frequency and severity.

In a world marked by rapid technological change (most buzzily AI and automation), climate shocks (extreme floods, fires, hurricanes, and other weather events), economic uncertainty (tariffs, trade wars, inflation, the prospect of recession), and shifting social norms (culture wars, anti-woke, sentiment, attacks on DEI), individuals who cultivate resilience are better equipped to navigate turbulence and support their communities in doing the same.

In practical terms, this means that whether you’re dealing with job transitions, the stress of adapting to new technologies, or the personal impact of climate-related events, your inner resilience enables you to remain clear-headed. Personal resilience also drives adaptability, which in turn creates the possibility of developing collective resilience within respective communities.

If community resilience is defined by a community’s ability to respond to shocks, this means the folks in said community have developed a mix of practical, psychological, emotional, and interpersonal skills to navigate complexity at multiple levels.

Reality Studies most frequently covers within a subfield of resilience called “climate resilience.” A full explanation of climate resilience—as well as why it is so important right now—is in development. Check back for that post! In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown:

Climate Resilience

Definition of climate resilience:

Climate resilience refers to the ability of communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure to anticipate, prepare for, and recover from climate-related disruptions.

This concept is highly correlated with collective resilience; it’s increasingly important in urban planning, disaster management, and community governance.

Climate resilience involves integrating sustainable practices, adaptive infrastructure, and proactive policies to mitigate risks such as floods, hurricanes, and heatwaves (i.e., cities might invest in urban forests to manage stormwater and reduce urban heat islands).

It also includes community initiatives that promote energy efficiency, renewable resources, and emergency preparedness plans. By building climate resilience, societies aim not only to survive environmental shocks but also to transform challenges into opportunities for innovation and sustainable development, ultimately leading to a more secure and adaptable future.

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