Resilience takes many forms, but few can say they’ve been swallowed by a whale and lived to tell the tale. Yet, there was a guy—let’s call him the real-life Jonah—who recently did just that. He was diving, minding his own business, probably thinking about dinner or his to-do list, when suddenly, gulp, he found himself inside a whale’s mouth. Just like that, one second you’re swimming in the ocean, and the next, you’re fish food…well, almost.

Now, let’s break this down. There are bad days, and then there are “I just got swallowed by a whale” days. Imagine the surprise, the panic, the sheer absurdity of it all. Most of us can barely handle a traffic jam without losing our minds. But this guy? He was inside a giant mammal, staring down the gullet of what might’ve been his final moments. And what did he do? He kept his cool. Maybe he thought, “This is it, I’m destined to be the plot of a sequel to Finding Nemo.” Or maybe he just had the sense to ride the wave—literally.

This story, of course, isn’t just about the outlandish spectacle of being nearly digested by a whale. It’s a powerful metaphor for resilience. Life can feel like that sometimes, right? We’re just swimming along, and suddenly—wham!—we get swallowed up by some gigantic problem, totally out of our control. Could be a pandemic, a job loss, an unexpected expense, or even something as mundane as a bad commute or a stressful day at work. In those moments, we’re faced with a choice: freak out, or take a deep breath (even if it smells fishy) and figure out a way through it.

The diver wasn’t alone in his survival—whales, after all, aren’t known for snacking on humans. But he was calm, and that’s the secret to resilience. The ability to stay composed when everything is screaming for you to panic is the heart of survival. It’s knowing that, somehow, you’ll get spat back out—maybe not unscathed, but still standing (or swimming) and with a story to tell.

We all have our “whale” moments—those situations that seem to swallow us whole. But if this guy can survive the literal jaws of a whale, we can survive the metaphorical ones. So next time life tries to swallow you up, remember: stay calm, keep kicking, and know that sometimes the best way to get through it is to wait until you’re spat back out, dazed but alive, with one heck of a story.

And let’s be honest, after that experience, everything else in life probably seems like a breeze. Forget resilience training—just try getting swallowed by a whale. That’ll teach you all you need to know.