Without struggle there is no progress

For those outside of the US, the 19th of June is known as Juneteenth.

It is a day of acknowledgement and remembrance. On June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas were finally informed of their freedom, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

And in the long, painful fight for that freedom, one of the most important voices belonged to a gentleman named Frederick Douglass.

Douglass was born into slavery in 1818. His mother was an enslaved Black woman, and his father was believed to be a white man, though Douglass never knew him. He was separated from his mother when he was young, raised for a time by his grandmother, and his mother died when he was still a child.

It was an extremely tough start. From the beginning, his life was shaped by separation, uncertainty, and a lack of control. But it was also shaped by a refusal to be reduced by the circumstances he was born into.

As a young boy, Douglass began learning to read from his enslaver’s wife. When her husband discovered what was happening, she was ordered to stop. But, despite that pathway drying up, Douglass kept learning to read in secret. He’d read whatever he could get his hands on, sometimes trading food with poor white children in exchange for lessons. He understood, even then, that knowledge was power.

In September 1838, Douglass escaped slavery by disguising himself as a free Black sailor and boarding a train from Baltimore to eventually reach New York and Massachusetts.

His escape marked the beginning of his true work. Once free, Douglass became a fierce abolitionist, choosing to speak less in theory and more in real-world experience. He shared his personal story of slavery and what it was really like. People couldn’t look away.

His struggle continued and, when the American Civil War began, Douglass pushed hard on the idea that the war had to become a fight to end slavery. He advocated for emancipation, argued for Black men to serve in the Union Army, and recruited soldiers himself. He later met Lincoln at the White House and challenged him on the unequal treatment of Black soldiers, pressing him to move faster, go further, and see Black Americans as active participants in winning their own freedom. Lincoln clearly respected him, reportedly telling Douglass after his Second Inaugural Address: “There is no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours.”

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” - Frederick Douglass

Reading about Douglass, it is hard not to wonder how he found the strength to get going, and then keep going.

But he did. And in our own much smaller ways, we do too. Struggle is often where we grow the most, especially when we’re willing to look at it differently.

What’s most inspiring about Douglass’s story is that he was less interested in survival, and more interested in starting over. It’s as if he was looking for a re-do. A decision he made where he refused to accept the hand he had been dealt. Instead, he decided to do something about it (for himself and for those around him).

That kind of resilience is active. It’s the kind that requires us to get rid the old version of ourselves if we really want to make positive change. As the saying goes: “nothing changes if nothing changes.”

Here are five tools we can take from Douglass’s journey and apply today, to help us find a way forward, no matter what lies in front of us:

1. Name the truth.
   Resilience starts with honesty. We need to know exactly where we are. This might mean naming the terrible situation we find ourselves in (burnout, fear, resentment, grief etc) instead of pretending we are fine. Try writing one sentence that begins: “The truth I’ve been avoiding is…” Awareness is one of our biggest allies because then we will know where we stand. If we want to plan a journey, it starts with us knowing where we are standing right now.

2. Knowledge = power.
   Douglass understood that knowledge changes the shape of possibility. For us, that could mean being curious enough to ask better questions, learn a new skill, understand the system we are operating in, or strive to be more emotionally literate. A simple practice: when we feel stuck is to ask, “What can I understand better, before deciding I’m powerless?” It takes work, but it’s possible.

3. Turn pain into purpose.
   Not every painful experience needs to become a public story, but it can become useful. What has this moment taught us, and how might that lesson perhaps help someone else. That question turns suffering into service and gives our hardship somewhere useful to go. When we channel that pain into something that helps others, that is damn resilient!

4. Act before we’re ready.
   Douglass became powerful by speaking, writing, and refining his message over time. Confidence often follows action, not the other way around. We can start by practicing the difficult thing. Doing small hard things helps us get confident enough to do big hard things.

5. Help others.
   Resilience is personal, but it’s also communal. Douglass used his freedom to advocate for the freedom of others. In our own lives, this can be as simple as mentoring someone, checking in on a colleague, sharing what we know, or creating conditions where others feel support around them.

The story of Frederick Douglass is a great reminder that what we want is not only a destination, but a purposeful practice that comes from doing the work. It’s also the art of accepting that there’s always going to struggle along the way, but that struggle is where progress is made.

Because without struggle, there can be no progress.

Until next time friends, stay resilient.

Carré at Resilient Minds

PS - I help organizations, individuals, and young people build practical resilience skills to better handle life’s challenges. If you’re interested in 1:1 coaching, a team workshop, or having me speak with students or athletes at a school or sports club, hit reply and let’s chat.