The Importance of Resilience

Asalamu alaikum!

Let’s talk about resilience.

It’s no doubt that you’ve heard this word countless of times—through lectures, social gatherings, and those classic admonishments from parents. But do we truly understand its depth and significance?

You could classically define it as “the ability to overcome adversity, remain adaptable, and maintain mental fortitude” but how many of us would just respond with “oh yeah” and move on with our lives? As we step into 2025, living at the spear-tip of the information age, the world continues to change at an ever-faster pace, throwing challenges at us in various forms almost simultaneously. “Doom scrolling” being the term that comes to mind here as we’re glued to our screens with TikTok and Instagram reels dominating the current Meta. And that’s just a slice of life from a social and worldly perspective—we haven’t even spoken about our professional roles as budding healthcare professionals.

All of this highlights why we NEED resilience to be our mental sword and shield.

وَلَـنَبۡلُوَنَّكُمۡ بِشَىۡءٍ مِّنَ الۡخَـوۡفِ وَالۡجُـوۡعِ وَنَقۡصٍ مِّنَ الۡاَمۡوَالِ وَالۡاَنۡفُسِ وَالثَّمَرٰتِؕ وَبَشِّرِ الصّٰبِرِيۡنَۙ‏

“We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure” (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:155)

Resilience as Medical Professionals: How can we practice resilience?

As budding medical professionals, we know we’ve got long hours and stressful days ahead of us, The constant barrage of NHS-bashing headlines feels never-ending. And though that may be a “future you” problem, inshaAllah, why not start practising the resilience we’ll need now?

Long hours of stress over Humza’s Notes, Anki decks, Passmed, and Geeky Medics will have anyone pulling out their own hair, but we need to remain steadfast that Allah has given these trials to us as a blessing. How many of the population would give anything to be where you are now? To study what you are studying now? How many prayers must have been uttered by your parents, by you, as you prepared for your UCAT, interviews, and previous years' exams?

An element of resilience is an appreciation of the efforts that came before. Gaining that perspective will allow you to put your head down for those few more hours/days/weeks until your exams pass you by and you come into your elements by achieving that excellence. Through the hardships that we go through now, we will find ease as our efforts bear fruit.

فَاِنَّ مَعَ الۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا ۙ‏ ٥ – (Surah Ash-Sharh 94:5)

“With hardship comes ease”

As I’m sure you have countless more anki decks to head back to. I’ll summarize this into three easy steps.

1. Self-care in the form of Salaat is paramount. When you feel like the walls are closing in and there is nobody in this life that takes you seriously or will hear you out, know that Allah is Al-Samī (All hearing).
2.  The importance of gratitude can’t be understated here. Frequent dhikr (remembrance of Allah) through the mouth or through your actions will allow you gain that little extra motivation and reignite that fire in your belly to achieve the goals you have set out to do.
3.  And finally, a very good friend once told me this during one of our deep chats in the Computer Clusters:
• Whenever you have set out to do something or are finding it hard to continue with doing it, remember that you are doing it (فِي سَبِيلِ ٱللَّٰهِ, fī sabīli llāhi) in the cause of Allah.

Inshallah when we become healthcare professionals, we will be tasked with the health maintenance and education of the Ummah. But to take that mantle of responsibility, we must strive to remain resilient in the challenges that come our way.

جَزَاكَ ٱللَّٰهُ خَيْرًا

 

By Haider Ali

GEC3 / Y4 Medicine