Psychology Today: Resilience, What It Is and Why We Need It

“What exactly are we talking about when we talk about resilience? Psychology Today defines resilience as “the psychological quality that allows some people to be knocked down by the adversities of life and come back at least as strong as before.”

Losses, setbacks, bad luck, painful events, and challenging and distressing situations are all part of life. No matter how hard we try, at some point in our lives, we will find ourselves navigating painful and challenging situations, some of our own making, many out of our control, and many that can throw us off course and threaten to derail our lives. We label such events and situations as obstacles and perceive them as negative. A factor in the outcome of a negative event or situation is our ability to navigate through its challenges. In other words, our resilience.

We’ve all heard the adage that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. While this may seem like a rather flippant observation, there is wisdom in these words. Vaccines, for example, work on the principle that exposure to a virus provides our bodies with the opportunity to fortify our immune system against disease. In much the same way, the experiences we label as negative can serve to fortify us and teach us that we can handle whatever shows up in our life.

Anyone who has ever experienced adversity shares one thing in common: they did the best that they could under the circumstances they encountered. When life handed them unforeseeable and unimaginable difficult situations, they did their best with the knowledge and skillets at their disposal at the time. Building resilience may seem like a daunting undertaking, but there are steps we can take in our daily lives to build resilience.

Seven Steps to Building Resilience

1. Take charge of the messages you tell yourself. Pay attention to self-talk. Learning to control the messages we tell ourselves and engaging in positive daily self-talk will empower our ability to speak positively to ourselves during difficult times.
2. Remind yourself that you have handled adversity in your life so far as well as you could.
3. Reframe negative events. Explore ways you have grown in the aftermath of adversity rather than dwell on negative experiences and forecast worst-case scenarios. Challenge yourself to examine the probability versus the possibility of worst-case scenarios actually happening.
4. Acknowledge the lessons you have learned so far and what the challenges in your life have taught you, and accept that adversity is a part of the fabric of life.
5. Add in extra self-care during times of adversity. Take care of yourself, mind, body, and spirit. Limit exposure to negative news cycles, social media, and toxic people.
6. Develop a meditation practice, whether that means sitting in silence or immersing yourself in an activity or pastime that you enjoy. Meditation practice allows you to calm your mind and connect with your inner strength.
7. Choose to have faith in yourself over your fear of the unknown and doubt in your skillsets. Have faith that you can pivot, navigate and manage whatever comes your way. Bring in support, like a mental health professional, when navigating through trauma and grief. “

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#Resilience #Adversity #Strenght

💬 What helps you to keep going when you experience hardships?