Having opened his eyes to a world of extreme poverty combined with the life-threatening situations of Civil War, Luis Velasquez suffered through and survived 3 brain tumors, lost his career and his relationships, and still found the resilience in him to “bloom where he was planted.”

This resilience expert explains his life as a series of severe and happy accidents that taught him how to thrive, rather than just survive.

Along the way, Luis learned several important lessons:

• I don’t wanna be fearless. I wanna fear less. And by assuming I wanna fear less, it gives me permission not to be perfect. It gives me permission to be messy. So, I seek improvement rather than perfection.
• Satisfaction comes from outside: you always want more. Fulfillment is internal: you don’t need all the money in the world to have that. You can find it at any level.
• For me, what has made the difference in surviving and thriving is understanding that I have choices and that I can adapt to whatever situation I have. I have a mother who says that I can’t control the rain, but I can control if I get wet or not.

Optimism, a mindset of abundance, being grateful for what you have, and being resourceful about the options that are available to you, helps you thrive, rather than just survive.

 

“The idea that you are a work in progress helps you be resilient. Possibilities are endless; whatever is going on in your life, this too shall pass. Focus on what you can control, don’t try to battle what you can’t control. My wife and I were deciding whether we should have children, because my world can change completely from one year to next, and one day I said: I don’t want my death to rule my life.”

 

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