We often overestimate how fragile we are. In our nightmares, we assume that life would become impossible for us far earlier than it actually would. In reality, we could manage perfectly well with a lot less than we currently have. Not that we should want this to happen, of course: it's simply that we could bear it. We forget our resilience in the face of risks and become unnecessarily timid. Our lives become dominated by a fear of losing things that we could in fact do without. Resilience is designed to gently remind us that we are far stronger than we imagine.