At the time of the interview he was cataloging ancient Greek coins at the Harvard museum and sounded reasonably content. In this case it did not seem to be an issue of social class, opportunities, intelligence, or past performance. The difference has to do with resilience. Resilience is generally associated with the ability to bounce back from adversity. Nearly 200 years ago a physician named Pineal wrote about the psychiatric risks associated with adverse circumstances.
Today there is no standard definition of resilience.
It implies elasticity or buoyancy. 4 Definitions of resilience suggest strength through flexibility. Through yielding, or bending, resilient people have an inner life-force that allows them to spring back and carry on. It is a multidimensional concept, such as intelligence or athletic ability, and therefore it cannot be easily isolated and resilient people cannot be easily put into a slot. I set out to explore why some people who lose their job are more resilient than others.