Do you find it difficult to cope with changes in your life?
Do you feel like you don’t always “recover” after facing a difficult situation?
If this sounds like you, I want to be the first to tell you that you’re not alone in this struggle and that there are (many!) ways to better handle the challenges life can throw your way. Friend.
What is resilience?
Resilience can be described as “a person’s ability to cope with changes and challenges and bounce back in difficult times”. Resilience is not simply a particular thing or quality – it includes many factors including but not limited to social support, self-care behaviors, and cognitive flexibility .
One important thing to remember is whoever can recover and develop resilience. It’s not quite a skill you were born with or a natural quality you have; It is a combination of skills, strategies and environmental factors that can be developed over time.
Why is it important?
Life is full of challenges! Stress and adversity are an inevitable part of being human. Without developing resilience, we will not be able to move on from any difficult times we may face.
Research has shown that individuals demonstrate better resilience in recovering from “experiences of adversity and trauma”. Because resilient people are better able to cope with everyday stress, they also appear to be more adept at managing traumatic life events such as natural disasters, the death of a loved one, or financial hardship. significantly main.
There is also research that says people who demonstrate higher levels of recovery tend to have more positive health outcomes. Resilience is positively correlated with better physical health outcomes, and resilient people have statistically lower rates of anxiety and depression.
How to develop resilience and related skills:
As mentioned before, no one has innate resilience. It is important to recognize that resilience can be developed over time and fostered through the development of healthy coping behaviors, self-care strategies, and flexibility in life. awareness. Here are some different strategies to increase your resilience!
1. Mindfulness practice: Mindful Deep Breath, Body Scan, Yoga
Mindfulness and meditation are activities that can assist us in developing resilience because they allow us to be in the present moment and experience our thoughts and feelings with clarity, without distraction. have any judgment.
Studies have shown that people who practice mindfulness regularly are able to move forward instead of being held back by difficulties. Mindfulness can allow us to see our challenges from new perspectives and respond to them in a more adaptive way. Because mindfulness is so helpful in learning how to deal with difficult thoughts and emotions, it can help us handle situations more effectively and adapt to adversity.
Mindfulness can allow us to see our challenges from new perspectives and respond to them in a more adaptive way. Because mindfulness is so helpful in learning how to deal with difficult thoughts and emotions, it can help us handle situations more effectively and adapt to adversity.
2. Create a Reflection Diary
Take a moment to reflect on a time in your life when you faced a difficult or stressful situation. Once you have the idea in mind, begin to reflect on that moment.
When faced with this stressful or challenging situation, are you resilient?
If you are elastic:
How do you think about this situation?
What did you do?
How was your resilience back then?
Maybe in your mind you look back at the situation and feel like you weren’t resilient in that moment.
If you are not resilient:
What did you do?
What do you think about the situation at that time?
And how do you think about the situation differently now?
Also, you might ask yourself, what could be different if you were resilient in that moment, and what does it look like?
Reflection-based exercises help us understand ourselves on a deeper level and see our experiences from different perspectives. Often, we need space and time away from stressful or adverse experiences that reflection brings to truly understand and appreciate how they affect our lives and emotions.
3. Improve Cognitive Flexibility: Stop Thinking Exercise
Cognitive flexibility is the mental ability to think about multiple topics at once. It allows us to view situations from multiple perspectives and, ultimately, allows us to make better decisions. Cognitive flexibility includes the cognitive skills, confidence, and adaptability to navigate challenging times or difficult situations. It also allows us to adapt to changing environments and circumstances.
One way to practice cognitive flexibility is a technique known as “thinking stop”. This technique is useful to use when you are faced with a stressful situation and feel overwhelmed by your emotions.
During these moments of feeling anxious, doubtful, stressed, or panicking, it can feel almost impossible to break out of that negative thought cycle. However, using the stop thinking technique is quite easy and it only involves 3 steps:
STEP 1: Identify your negative thoughts.
STEP 2: “STOP” your thoughts: visualize a big red stop sign in your mind and take a deep breath. This gives you a minute to reset before making any decisions or descending into a disturbing hole in the proverbial.
STEP 3: Replace that negative or worrying thought with a more positive or neutral thought.
This “thinking stop” technique is a tool you can use to reduce stress and respond in a more adaptive way to stressful situations.
4. Engage in self-care
Resilience is the ability to adapt and adjust – coming back despite being knocked down. However, if you don’t take the time to rest and take care of yourself, it will become increasingly difficult to cope with adversity.
Self-care doesn’t have to be a perfect meditation class or Instagram bubble bath – it can be as simple as reading a book for fun, exercising, or calling a friend to catch up!
It is important to remember that, as humans, we will be tested by the difficulties and stress that life throws at us! However, if we can develop skills, such as resilience, we can learn more effective ways to manage those difficulties.
Presenter:
Connor, KM & Davidson, JRT (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18, 76–82.
Eisenberg, D., Lipson, SK, & Posselt, J. (2016). Promotes resilience, maintenance and mental health.
Gilligan, R. (2004). Promoting resilience in child and family social work: Issues in social work practice, education and policy. Social Work Education, 23(1), 93-104.
Leary, KA, & DeRosier, ME (2012). Factors that promote positive adaptation and resilience during the college transition. Mentality, 3(12), 1215-1222.
Steinhardt, M., & Dolbier, C. (2008). Evaluation of a resilience intervention to enhance coping strategies and protective and symptom-reducing factors. American College Health Journal, 56(4), 445-453.
