Many people have asked me lately about personal resilience during this messy, strange, disturbing time that we’re living through. You are trying your hardest to keep your head above water, yet you often feel unhappy, unfulfilled, unrelentingly under pressure. Even when things are going well. You may be asking yourself: is personal resilience enough to get through these times?

On my office wall, I have a sign from Newtown, Connecticut that I got after my work helping the community respond to its school massacre, which reads: “Our collective strength and resilience will be an example to the rest of the world.”

I am recalling these signs now as panic and fear grips the nation over the coronavirus.