At some point in each person’s life, the waves come crashing down. It’s easy to get deluged. To feel like you’re going to drown.

You can sink. Or swim. Or surf.

Surf? Yes. If you have the right attitude, you can develop the skills to ride out even the roughest waves.

I’ve been thinking about this over the past week since I had the privilege of interviewing Rod Warner, head of the Building Resilience consulting firm in Cape Town, South Africa. He chose to cultivate his personal resilience — to cope with his wife suddenly stricken with a debilitating illness and his successful national sales career unexpectedly vanishing amid layoffs. He not only learned to survive, but he also figured out how to thrive.

As I embarked on my usual weekend walk along the San Francisco Bay to admire nature — and coincidentally put into practice one of Warner’s seven building blocks for strengthening personal resilience — the waves mesmerized me. I watched the waves’ story unfold.

Some people get swallowed by the waves. Other people get pushed and pulled by the waves. Resilient people get up and ride the waves.