I decided to reflect upon what I understand of my own resilience and how I can become more resilient. As a representation of this I created “Heart Strings”, an anatomical image of a heart in applique and embroidery.

I chose a heart design because of its representation of both a physical organ system, the cardiovascular system, essential to life, and also the emotional system, equally essential but on a different level. This reflects the different levels of systems in a person’s life. My life would not be possible without the beating of my heart, and it would not seem worth living without the emotions I feel. These two different levels are represented in the heart. I decided to use an anatomical representation to also illustrate my learning and training to become a doctor. We are taught and develop an understanding of the physical parts of the heart, how it works, how it can become damaged and how to fix this, but also the importance of the patient’s emotional heart, and how to relate to them. The heart is a mirror image of a true anatomical heart to depict how it is a reflection of myself, my resilience and my emotions. It also shows the way in which this has been a reflection for me, a way of analysing myself in a new, and I believe important, way.

I chose pieces of material from my past sewing projects to represent how in many ways our resilience is a product of our past experiences. Part of resilience is recovering from past challenges, and importantly learning from them. This made me reflect on the challenges I have faced, for instance due to my dyslexia, which has meant from a very young age I have been challenged by reading, spelling and a slow processing speed. I have never let my dyslexia hold me back. Additionally, I have come to enjoy working, despite it being challenging at times, and this positive feedback has strengthened my resilience, giving me a determination I have applied outside of academic too, such as my sewing. In the past projects which the pieces of material came from, there were challenges too, however the finished product always came out well and helped me learn techniques for the next project. This also helped me to consider that it is important to recognise that patients also have different experiences which they have learn from and which have shaped them. This may be important to recognise and be sensitive to in building an effective therapeutic relationship.

Through creation of “Heart Strings” I have tried to show my own reflection and understanding of my resilience, and how this may be similar for others. I have considered how this affects my work and looked in new depth about some of the behaviours that I feel currently give me resilience and may help me improve resilience now and in the future.