For a long time, we talked about resilience as a synonym for resistance.
As if the secret to success was to hold firm, endure pain, and move forward at any cost.
But, after years of entrepreneurship, moving to new countries, and rebuilding paths, I understood that resistance is only half the equation.
True resilience lies in knowing how to adapt without losing who you are.
When I arrived in Ireland, everything was new—the language, the climate, the culture, even the way of thinking about work.
At first, I tried to resist. I wanted to keep everything as it was in Brazil: the way of negotiating, planning, leading.
But the more I resisted, the harder it became to grow. That’s when I realized: adapting is not about giving in, it’s about evolving.
Being resilient is not about hardening; it’s about learning to be flexible without breaking. It’s about absorbing the impact of changes, but continuing to move in the direction of your purpose.
It’s about understanding that the world changes—and that if you want to remain relevant, you need to change along with it.
The secret is not to confuse change with loss.
When you have clarity of purpose, you can adapt a thousand times without losing yourself.
In SEDA’s journey, we’ve gone through many phases. Crises, restructurings, new markets, new ways of teaching.
Technology has transformed the way we learn, and we’ve had to reinvent what we already knew.
If we had resisted the changes, perhaps we would have survived for a while.
But it was by adapting that we were able to grow.
Resilience, I’ve learned, is not the shield of those who endure the world, but the compass of those who adjust to it.
It’s what differentiates those who merely survive from those who transform.
Today, I look back and see that each change I faced brought me closer to my essence—it didn’t distance me from it.
Because when the purpose is clear, adaptation doesn’t dilute who you are; it expands who you can become.
