The inspiring resilience of water bears
While water bears (also known as tardigrades) look like works of science fiction, the 1,300 species of these microscopic, 8-legged wonders are alive and well. They’re ubiquitous, found from the top of the Himalayas to Antarctic depths, at temperatures from -328°F (-200°C) to 304°F (151°C). Their resilience allows them to survive and thrive in the harshest environments. Their example can inspire us to rise to the challenges we face.
When I had 6 weeks of daily radiation to treat cancer, I thought a lot about the perseverance of water bears. The technicians would position me on the table, then close the heavy door behind them as they left the room to protect themselves from the radiation. Click. Through a small window, they’d watched me, alone, unmoving, exposed on a table with no protection from the radiation blasting my body. I imagined myself as a tardigrade, opening to the light and radiation, absorbing it to kill any microscopic cancer cells floating around my body. I would think of Rumi’s quote, “The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
By the end of week six, I had a painful burn the size of a baseball in the middle of my chest. “What would a tardigrade do with a burn like this?”, I wondered. They would repair the damage. So, that’s what I did. I changed dressings and applied medication twice a day. I meditated on my wound, imagining it closing and healing. It was painful and frightening to have a wound like that, but like so much along my cancer journey, it passed. To my amazement and my doctors’, it healed in 2 weeks. Today only a few freckles and a small tattoo mark the place where the radiation beam, the light, entered me.
My healing is nothing compared to that of tardigrades. I bow in deep humility to them. Tardigrades instill awe, wonder, and confusion in scientists. Devastating drought? A sprinkle of water revives them from completely dried out to fully functioning. Deep freeze of outer space? They thaw and don’t know they’ve been away from Earth. Crushing pressure? They flatten and bounce back. Blast of radiation 1,400 times stronger than what would kill humans? They repair their shattered DNA, rapidly and completely, and then go about their day.
It’s not that water bears they aren’t impacted by their environment. It’s that they’re able to withstand the impact, and then pick up the pieces, build back better, and carry on.
As we consider how to survive in an increasingly difficult world, again I’m thinking of tardigrades. How they endure the harsh reality of their environment. How they withstand hardship and preserve their core. How they quickly and completely fix what breaks once their external conditions improve. I want to be like them — courageous, strong, and able to rebuild.