From School safety to Death threat
In 1988, on a beautiful spring day in April of that year, I was having a normal school day like any other child my age. I was 15 years old. The Civil War in Lebanon had been highly tense lately around the capital Beirut. No one expected that the region where I lived would become a heavy frontline zone. I was living with my parents in our home in Jbeil. School management instructed us on that school day that it wasn’t safe to stay. All students must go home! With that early unexpected leave, I had to walk home by myself.
Learning mode vs. Surviving mode
Suddenly, I heard AK47 shots nearby. I realized that I walked into a shooting area. Adrenaline surged through me! Quickly I took cover to avoid being hit. In no time, I heard bullets hitting the nearby walls. This was a terrifying moment for me. I am not prepared for any of this. To survive this, I ran and took cover.
After a short moment, things started to escalate. I began to hear RPG explosions, and suddenly, a 6mm cannon projectile launched from a Jeep Willis hit the top apartment a block away from where I was hiding. The sound was terrible, with cloud of dust and debris falling all over the place. I put my head down and covered my ears; the hit was very close and loud.
The surviving lesson
The clashes calmed down for a minute. At that moment, I found the opportunity to run fast and ascended the hill where I lived. I managed to get away from the clashes and thanked God for giving me the strength to escape from that imminent death and for bringing me safely home. It was a life experience that I wouldn’t wish for any kid.
From childhood survivor to Career resilience
Despite all this, this incident made my mind to be sharp during that close-to-death experience. In addition to that, it involved developing the right strategy to get away from the situation. With all the fear and bullets spinning above my head, my resilience gave me the ability to cope and adapt quickly to the situation.
That incident elevated my resilience skills to higher levels. It equipped me with critical thinking in crucial situations. That was a hard lesson. A decade later, this incident turned out to be highly important to my career development. In 1998, after graduating from university, I worked as a Quality Management Consultant. I was assigned to create and implement its new quality management systems. To cope and adapt quickly to the new organization, I approached the task with a different way of thinking. I had very limited time to understand the current system and develop a new one as per the ISO 9002:1994 guideline. I had to integrate the whole staff and higher management into the change within a tight deadline. Failure would cost the client money, and my organization would lose its credibility.
With hard work and creativity, using different approaches and strategies, I was able to implement the system. I can proudly say that I made the system development and implementation on time. The organization in question received its ISO certification as planned.
The priceless life lesson
Resilience is not just a normal skill; it arises from personal life difficulties and struggles. The human mind develops resilience to approach and overcome challenges. This personal development defines an individual’s success in any field or organization. That’s why I highly recommend employers invest in empowering their employees with resilience training at work. It empowers them to face any type of challenge. They become ready to overcome obstacles, take the right measures to succeed, and reach their goals. In the end, this creates a win-win situation. Result of that, employers and employees will contribute to the business’s success and prosperity.
#WarSurvivor #ResilienceJourney #LifeTransformation #PersonalGrowth
