Values and Resilience

Name: Andrea Stojcevski | Program: Chemical | Graduation Year: 8T8 |


Dear graduate,
As you start your future career path, it is important to know that you will face many challenges as well as opportunities. It is in the challenges that you really need to focus, the hard times will define you much more than the good. The most important thing that has kept me going in tough times is the foundation I have in my values. I learned too late that my values are the strongest roots in myself. When I worked in places that had values (or lack of) that conflicted with my own, I struggled and weakened. If I had known or recognized this, I would have cut myself from these places sooner. Don’t be afraid to do this as you go forward. Work places that don’t value the same things you do, are not the places for you and the sooner you know and decide to leave, the better. If values are your foundation, then resilience is your roof. You will not always be in control of your work and career. Indeed, many things will happen that will hurt you, shake your confidence, and attack your livelihood. But if you practice resilience, you will come out of it stronger and richer. I have been through lay-offs, been passed over for promotion, and faced a lot of nasty workplace politics. If I had known that my own resilience was much more important than other peoples views and opinions of me, I would have saved myself a lot of heart-ache and pain. More often than not, you can’t control the environment around you, so you must recognize that instead you can be resilient and believe that you will survive and eventually thrive.