What can we do that promotes resilience?

Building Resilience

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. So, what can we do that promotes resilience?

 

Acceptance

We must accept that stress, mistakes, and failure are an inevitable part of our everyday, in our professional work and in our personal lives. Adversity does not discriminate, we all have to handle situations in life of challenging pressures at work, grieving for a loved one, conflict in relationships or mental illness. The list goes on…

The saying ‘failure is not an option’ is redundant in today’s emotionally intelligent world. Resilient people know that sh*t happens.

In case you were thinking about boxing up all that stress, worry and, pressure - suppression is not an effective strategy. Try not to think about something, and guess where your mind goes… 

The ability to make mistakes, learn from them, and rebound is resilience building and from this we can branch out into new directions, boost our immune system and lead happier lives.

 

Run Towards Resilience

By taking opportunities for change and personal/professional development, we learn how to handle failure, rejection, mistakes; how to rebound and recover from extraordinary circumstances.

Build your resilience by making pursuits meaningful. Meditation, photography, learning a new language, taking that course, asking for more responsibility at work…

Be kind to yourself by discovering enjoyment in the challenges you face and be optimistic, even on the tough days. By finding your inner drive to take on new projects and also keeping in mind your future focus, you’ll be more autonomous, pragmatic and nurtured as a person.  Stronger and more prepared for whatever comes next in life.

 

Mindset Matters

Slow and gradual behaviour change is more likely to last. Commit to a manageable behaviour change and we are more likely to follow-through. Balance this with self-compassion.

Exercise is so good for us, not only physically but for our mental health and to build cognition. Aim to do a walk for 10 minutes a day over lunch but always show compassion to yourself. If you are too self-critical when you miss one day, you are less likely to bounce back the next day.

Be careful of when you place your attention.  As humans, our survival instinct makes us excellent at noticing weaknesses and threats. Take a step back, is the way you are thinking going to help you, or just have a detrimental impact you?

Resilient people make a conscious effort to not be swallowed up by the negative and instead focus on benefit finding, all those things in your life that you can be grateful for.

Don’t do it alone

Make a deliberate effort to find what’s good in your life. This should include a strong social connection with colleagues, friends, and family who you can turn to in your times of need. Resilient people ask for help when they need this and see this as a sign of inner-strength, not weakness.

 

What changes do you need to make in your life or your mindset to become resilient?