Resilience is crucial because it is the capacity to adapt, recover, and even thrive in the face of stress, adversity, or change.

Its importance lies in its ability to:

• Enable Survival and Recovery: It allows individuals, communities, or systems to withstand shocks (e.g., economic downturns, natural disasters, personal crises) and return to a stable state, preventing collapse.

• Foster Growth and Learning: Rather than being merely passive endurance, resilience involves learning from difficult experiences, leading to stronger, more adaptable, and innovative approaches in the future.

• Maintain Well-being: For individuals, it's key to mental and emotional health, preventing prolonged negative impacts from stress and promoting a sense of agency and hope.

• Ensure Stability and Continuity: For organisations and societies, resilience ensures essential functions can continue despite disruptions, safeguarding progress and preventing cascading failures.

• Drive Positive Adaptation: In a constantly changing world, resilience isn't just about bouncing back, but about 'bouncing forward' – adapting and evolving to meet new challenges effectively.

In essence, resilience is the fundamental quality that allows anything – a person, a business, a city – to not just survive, but to emerge stronger and more capable from difficult times.