What got you here… won’t always take you further.
Three weeks after cancer surgery, I went back to work. And then began 19 radiation sessions.
People imagine radiation as dramatic — scalpels, monitors, urgency. It’s not. It’s a quiet 20-minute procedure. A machine revolves around you. You hold your breath. The attendants see dozens of faces like yours every day. Nothing about it looks like suffering.
But radiation burns you from the inside.
By week three, my throat felt like it was closing. Rashes. Fatigue that sat in my bones. And then — the thing that undid me most — drinking water became painful. Water. The most ordinary thing in the world.
That’s when I found my straw.
Not metaphorically — literally. A straw was the only way I could get water down. And hitting my 2.5-liter daily goal became the one thing I could control. So I controlled it, sip by careful sip.
While drinking… I didn’t realise what I was learning.
That resilience isn’t about staying strong. It’s about knowing when to change the strategy entirely… and having the courage to do it quietly, without an audience.
Leadership Is Tested Most When No One Knows Your Internal Battle
The moment when the old approach stops working. When pushing harder isn’t the answer anymore. When what got you here… genuinely cannot take you further.
Most leaders don’t talk about this moment. They add more to the plate. Work longer. Push through. Because slowing down feels like falling behind.
But I was learning something different.
The strategy that got me through week one stopped working by week three. So I changed it. Quietly. Without drama. I stopped trying to drink normally… and picked up a straw.
That’s the lesson I carry into every coaching conversation now.
The leaders who navigate pressure best are not the ones who push hardest. They are the ones who notice earliest when the approach needs to change.
They don’t announce it. They don’t make it a crisis. They just… adapt. Pick up the straw. Keep going.
Resilience is not about how much you can endure.
The Role of Resilience and Adaptability in an International Workplace
It’s about how quickly you can recalibrate.
I finished all 19 sessions.
I hit my 2.5 litres every day.
And somewhere between the first sip and the last… I understood something I had been telling clients for years but had never felt in my bones until that moment.
Knowing when to change the strategy is not weakness. That’s not weakness. That’s wisdom.
If you’re a leader navigating pressure, change, or a moment where the old approach has stopped working — that’s exactly the work I do.
I’m Usha. Executive Leadership Coach. Let’s talk.
Usha Nagrani, an HR Leader turned ICF Executive Coach, empowers senior management professionals and business leaders to achieve breakthroughs as expats, build cross-cultural teams, and navigate the exciting journey of career acceleration.