My colleague told me “I saw xxx in the bus yesterday. And all I could think of was “this is Svenja’s work”.
What he meant by that is that the boy he was talking about made a 180 degree change from before he met me as opposed to now.

I told my colleague that while I may have played a part in the change, he is not my work. He did that alone. I just listened and talked. The rest came from himself inside.

I have never seen a more resilient child than him. He was 15 years old and he faced literally every adversity a human being could face in an entire lifetime in just 15 years. We are talking about repeated, neglect, abuse of different kinds, being left alone at a very young age without parents being near, financial struggles to a point that he didn’t have money to even buy a snack for school. He would sometimes walk 2 hours to school at 5am in the morning or back home … and the list continues.

His mental health was not well, needless to say. But he kept going. And with all the adversity that happened around him, he understood the world way too early and way too well. I was not talking to a 15 year old boy.
I was talking to a 15 year old man. Maturity is not age, it’s experience.
He understood things, that often 70 year olds didn’t understand about life.

But he had this mindset of “I know who I am, and I won’t let anyone tell me”. He just needed a little push to get out of the “I’m stuck, I don’t know what to do phase” into the “I will do what it takes …”
Resilience, integrity … the outer alignment of actions with who you are inside and how you feel inside.

2 topics that got combined in my sports psychology course.
To ease us into the topic our teacher asked us to think of someone in our sport that we would consider highly resilient and then talk about that person as to why.

I can’t think of any other person, neither in my sport than anyone else’s sport, than Bruce Lee. If you followed his life and the accomplishments on a professional as well as private level, despite having had everything against him, there is no discussion.

So I felt like sharing my homework with you. Because I think we all could use some Bruce Lee energy in our lives.

The task:
Think of somebody in your own sport that you would consider as highly resilient.
What are the characteristics you would use to describe them.

My answer: Bruce Lee
For me there is no stronger example than Bruce Lee and I chose him as an example of resilience in sport. He was not only a highly skilled martial artist, but also a philosopher and someone who challenged existing systems and expectations.

Bruce Lee demonstrated resilience on multiple levels … physical, mental, and especially personal. He faced injuries, criticism, cultural resistance, and rejection, yet continued to move forward and develop his own path.

What I admire most about Bruce Lee is not only his ability as an athlete, but his courage to stand for his beliefs, even when it came at a high personal cost.

At a time when it was strongly opposed within his own culture, he chose to teach martial arts to anyone who wanted to learn, regardless of background or ethnicity. This decision led to serious conflict as back then certain groups believed that martial arts should just be taught to a certain group of people. And he was even challenged and severely injured in a fight that could have caused the end of his martial arts activity because of it. Despite this, he did not change his stance. He remained committed to the idea that martial arts should be accessible to everyone.

This shows a deep level of resilience … not just the ability to endure hardship, but the strength to stay aligned with your values under pressure. Integrity.

Bruce Lee consistently followed his own path rather than expectations or tradition. He went against cultural norms several times: For example he got married outside his culture to a white woman despite social backlash in both countries, challenged traditional martial arts structures, and created his own philosophy and system. Instead of conforming, he chose authenticity.

To me, this reflects true integrity … doing what you believe is right, even when it is difficult, unpopular, or misunderstood.

Another important aspect of his resilience was his adaptability. One of his most famous principles, “Be like water,” reflects his ability to adjust, evolve, and not stay rigid in his thinking or practice. He combined different martial arts styles instead of following a single traditional path, which allowed him to grow beyond limitations that others accepted.

Bruce Lee also showed strong discipline and a powerful work ethic. He was obsessed with training, studying techniques and learning new things, continuously improved himself, and paid attention to details. At the same time, he demonstrated emotional control, staying calm under pressure and not letting emotions take over in challenging situations.

However, what stands out most to me is the connection between resilience and integrity.

I believe that resilience is not something that can simply be trained in isolation. It is closely connected to alignment with one’s inner values and identity and the courage to act on it. When a person acts in a way that truly reflects who they are and what they believe in, resilience becomes a natural consequence. They are more willing to persist, endure setbacks, and continue, because their actions feel meaningful and authentic.

In contrast, it is much harder to sustain resilience over time when someone is not convinced of what they are doing. If motivation comes only from external pressure, expectations, or obligation, it becomes easier to give up when challenges arise someday.

Bruce Lee is a strong example of this. His resilience did not come from forcing himself to continue, but from being deeply aligned with his beliefs about martial arts, identity, and personal expression.

His life was far from easy, yet he continued to move forward, grow, and express his ideas. In the end, this is exactly what made him so impactful. He did not just master martial arts … he redefined them.

Today, Bruce Lee is still known all over the world, even by people who were not yet born when he died. This shows that resilience is not only about performance in the moment, but about creating something meaningful and lasting.

For me, Bruce Lee represents courage over conformity, identity over approval, and purpose over comfort. And it’s exactly this what made him the legend he is.

All those are traits I deeply respect and admire more than anything else in a person.

And this boy … that my colleague saw on the bus … has a lot of Bruce Lee in him. And I’m honored to know him, because I have no doubt that he will achieve great things when he grows up.