Ever wonder why some people seem to bounce back from a struggle or challenge and others don’t do it so well? Why some people have more “fight” in them than others? Or, how some always seem to make lemonade from lemons – even if the lemons are rotten?! This is called resilience. Merriam Webster defines resilience as an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Resilient people face life’s challenges head on, deal with them, and find a way to rise again. They are more successful at handling setbacks, loss, and change than non-resilient people. This doesn’t mean that they don’t get stressed, experience grief, or get overwhelmed. It means that they buckle down and do what they need to do in order to get up again. Sounds like a Covid small-business story, right? So how do we get some of this resilience?
Resilience is multi-factorial. What does that mean? Many factors can contribute to someone being resilient. For example, being positive and optimistic helps make you resilient. It can help reduce the impact of stress on your perception of a situation. This might help you respond differently and analyze the situation from a better starting point. Also, thinking positive about your own abilities helps you not feel beat down when something goes wrong or not as planned. Being a good communicator has been shown to help people deal with and overcome challenges. Instead of “freaking out” when something negative happens, resilient people demonstrate emotional intelligence and can manage their emotions effectively. (I think I do both – freak out and then manage effectively, lol). Research indicates that there is a genetic link to being resilient, but that’s also linked to life’s experiences and environment allowing genetics to contribute. Sounds like nature AND nurture impact resilience in a person.
Life can hit us with some pretty hard challenges so how can we become more resilient? Is there anything we can do to boost our resilience? Yes!
- Create healthy lifestyle habits. This means getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, managing stress, and eating well.
- Nurture close relationships so you have a support network when life goes off track.
- Live according to your values and morals. Doing this reaffirms purpose in your life and reduces internal struggles.
- Exercise regularly, but not too much. Exercise in general can boost your mood and motivation, but doing too much can stress your body and weaken your energy. Listen to your body and rest/recharge when necessary.
- Reframe your thoughts about a negative situation to realistically examine what you can change or control. Also, possibly asking what you can learn from the challenge.
- Focus on what you can control. Life can throw a lot at you all at once that can overwhelm you. Some things you can’t control in a situation so focusing on what you can control can help you reformulate a way to deal with it.
- Accept change. It will happen. It’s inevitable.
Building resilience takes active practice. All of these tips are great to read, but you have to put them into practice in order for them to work. If you find you’re getting stressed, overwhelmed, or dealing with something this week and are about to freak out, read this list and figure out where you can start. How can you practice resilience?