Years ago I met a woman whose job title was “resilience trainer”. I thought it sounded a little bizarre, and of course her job involved working for a big company and being sent around to regional offices to speak to staff who were being made redundant. At the time it sounded like a somewhat cynical profession, but I was reminded of it some years later, when speaking to another friend who had been made redundant early in her career.

She had been working as a manager in retail, but then used her redundancy pay to begin a master’s course in another field, which led to her next job and a thoroughly enjoyable second career. In our conversation she said she had a theory that everyone should be made redundant at least once in their lives, to teach them how to cope when things go wrong.

I don’t quite agree with the blanket statement, as I remember too many stories of devastating redundancy after the financial crash. It’s one thing when young and single with plenty of opportunities for moving on, and quite another when an entire family might be relying on one income stream.

But I do think my friend had a point – difficult or painful life events can create resilience. While of course it would be much better if they didn’t happen, everyone faces some kind of upheaval at some point or other. Sometimes the only good we can take from it is resilience.