April Showers Bring May Flowers: Setbacks & Resilience

Flowers representing the idea of managing setbacks and practicing resilience.

“April showers bring May flowers.”

As children, we often view this common phrase literally, seeing the rain throughout April as a means for the beautiful blooms in the coming months. However, this phrase can also be applied to our own lives. When faced with struggles, it’s important to understand how we can develop, learn, and grow while managing setbacks and practicing resilience. While setbacks may be tough to face in the moment, they are often necessary steppingstones to a successful future. Resilience is an important skill, and one that can be practiced and cultivated to help you make it through the rain to see the blooms on the other side.

Identify Lessons Within Challenges

The first step in building your resilience is to reframe your setbacks as growth opportunities. After processing your struggles, you can identify what you might have learned from the experience and how you can improve upon your choices moving forward. If you got in a fight with a friend, you could come out of that situation with a better grasp of how to communicate and listen to them when you disagree. Maybe you told your boss you would have a project done by a certain date and then missed the deadline. After finishing the project, you may come out of that experience with better time management skills and an understanding of your ability to balance additional work.

By reformatting your mindset from viewing your setbacks as “failures” to viewing them as “learning experiences,” you can lessen the weight you feel after a difficult situation and begin to determine how to do better in the future.

Create Practical Strategies for Building Resilience

The second step to practicing resilience in your everyday is to adopt practical strategies for managing setbacks so when you do face hardship, you can bounce back more easily. Some strategies you can begin to incorporate into your metaphorical toolbox include:

Practice Self-Compassion: Be kind to yourself after you’ve endured a difficult situation or setback. Avoid harsh self-criticism and acknowledge the effort you made. Do small things to make yourself feel better, like going for a walk or reading a book, as you work to regain your footing.

Woman practicing self-compassion, embracing the process of managing setbacks and practicing resilience.

Develop a Growth Mindset: Rather than replaying your supposed “failure” in your mind, remember that every setback is a learning experience. Take 30 minutes and write down any lesson you can derive from the hardship you have faced. Focusing on progress over perfection and identifying where you went wrong the first time, can help you improve and get closer to success going into the future.

Adaptability and Problem-Solving: Once you’ve identified where you went wrong, make adjustments to your path going forward. Embrace adaptability by learning to pivot and finding alternative solutions when faced with obstacles. This will not only lead you closer to the solution for this specific problem, but it will also help you become a better, more flexible problem solver for any other difficulties you may face.

Turn Challenges into Actionable Steps

The third step in managing setbacks and practicing resilience is to turn your challenges into actionable steps. Similarly to step 1, you are reframing the setbacks you have faced as learning experiences and identifying how you can do better in the future. This step involves:

Reflecting and Learning: Identify key takeaways from the setbacks you experienced. For example, if you failed an exam, perhaps you know that you didn’t study enough and you didn’t get enough sleep the night before. By reflecting and learning, you open yourself up to positive change.

Set Small, Achievable Goals: After learning what went wrong the first time, set goals to help you improve for next time. It can be helpful to break down larger challenges into manageable steps, so that you can more easily incorporate those changes into your routine. For example, after you failed your test and identified sleep and lack of studying as two key problems, begin to adjust your bedtime and integrate dedicated “study time” into your schedule, so you feel more prepared the next time you have a test.

Seek Support: Ask those around you for help when you need it. By leaning on mentors, friends, or professional guidance, you are building a support system around you to keep you on track and continue your path toward positive change. For example, once you have adjusted your schedule to involve more sleep and study time, ask a friend to help you prepare for a particular test or a mentor to give you advice on study methods that have worked for them.

By utilizing each of these tips to address the setbacks you have faced, you can turn your challenges into actionable steps that will keep you moving forward.

Exercise Patience and Persistence

A plant grows out of an old, chopped-down tree, a representation of managing setbacks and practicing resilience.

One of the easiest ways to counteract setbacks is to remember how temporary they are, and how much you will grow from the difficulties you face, similarly to flowers in the springtime. While the flowers are faced time and time again with cold fronts, frost, and hungry animals, they persist through their setbacks, which often lead to new growth. As you face your trials and tribulations, stay committed to your long-term goals and trust that the challenges you face will teach you more about achieving and maintaining your goals.

Conclusion

While you may feel discouraged or disenfranchised by your setbacks or slumps, it’s important to remember that the challenges you face are a part of your journey toward your goals and successes. By identifying the lessons from your hurdles, practicing practical strategies for resilience, taking actionable steps forward, and exercising patience and persistence, you can take hold of your setbacks and find a path forward.

This April, we encourage you to embrace growth, renewal, and change, just like the spring season. Acknowledge the struggles you had this winter and learn from them. Your May flowers are just around the corner.

For more tips on maintaining and improving your mental wellbeing, check out Acenda's other blogs!

About the Author

Riley de Jong, Communications Strategist at Acenda, attended the University of California – Los Angeles for her undergraduate degree in Communication and minor in Entrepreneurship. She enjoys supporting her community, telling engaging stories, and connecting with others.

Sources:

https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience/building-your-resilience

https://www.verywellmind.com/ways-to-become-more-resilient-2795063

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhudson/2025/03/31/building-resilience-through-everyday-development-how-small-wins-drive-organizational-growth/