On Resilience

In the span of two months, Melinda Vail Goodnight lost her 41-year-old son, the marriage she thought would define the rest of her life, and reconnected with a child she'd placed for adoption decades earlier as a scared teenager. Then, just as the ground started to feel solid again, her job was eliminated and doctors found a tumor on her optic nerve that could have taken her sight. Most people would have simply stopped. She didn't. In this raw, unscripted conversation, the former Southwest Airlines EA breaks down what resilience actually looks like when the theory runs out and all you have left is the next hour, the next decision, the next day. This isn't a highlight reel of overcoming adversity. It's the real thing.

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