by Darpan Sachdeva
via everydayhealth
“Resilience is “the core strength you use to lift the load of life.” — Amit Sood, MD
What is Resilience?
Resilience is typically defined as the capacity to recover from difficult life events. Its a trait you can learn to become Resilient.
Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events. Being resilient does not mean that people don’t experience stress, emotional upheaval, and suffering. Some people equate resilience with mental toughness, but demonstrating resilience includes working through emotional pain and suffering.
“It’s your ability to withstand adversity and bounce back and grow despite life’s downturns,”
says Amit Sood, MD, the executive director of the Global Center for Resiliency and Well-Being
Resilience theory refers to the ideas surrounding how people are affected by and adapt to things like adversity, change, loss, and risk.
Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists, Whether you can be said to have it or not largely depends not on any particular psychological test but on the way your life unfolds. If you are lucky enough to never experience any sort of adversity, we won’t know how resilient you are. It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or lack of it, emerges:
Do you succumb or do you surmount?
Resilience isn’t a fixed trait. Flexibility, adaptability, and perseverance can help people tap into their resilience by changing certain thoughts and behaviours. It’s a trait that can be learnt to become Resilient.
The study of resilience focuses on protective factors – the elements that allow a person to thrive in spite of negative circumstances.
Protective factors fall into two categories:
– internal/psychological
– external/environmental.
All people are different: While one person might develop symptoms of depression or anxiety following a traumatic event, another person might not report any symptoms at all.
– Its a trait that each one of us can learn to become Resilient.
A combination of factors contributes to building resilience, and there isn’t a simple to-do list to work through adversity. In one longitudinal study, protective factors for adolescents at risk for depression, such as family cohesion, positive self-appraisals, and good interpersonal relations, were associated with resilient outcomes in young adulthood.
While individuals process trauma and adversity in different ways, there are certain protective factors that help build resilience by improving coping skills and adaptability.
These factors include:
Social Support:
Research published in 2015 in the journal Ecology and Society showed that social systems that provide support in times of crisis or trauma, support resilience in the individual. Social support can include immediate or extended family, community, friends, and organizations.
Realistic Planning :
The ability to make and carry out realistic plans helps individuals play to their strengths and focus on achievable goals.
Self-Esteem:
A positive sense of self and confidence in one’s strengths can stave off feelings of helplessness when confronted with adversity.
Coping Skills :
Coping and problem-solving skills help empower a person who has to work through adversity and overcome hardship.
Communication Skills:
Being able to communicate clearly and effectively helps people seek support, mobilize resources, and take action.
Emotional Regulation:
The capacity to manage potentially overwhelming emotions (or seek assistance to work through them) helps people maintain focus when overcoming a challenge.
“She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails.” — Elizabeth Edwards, author
Types of Resilience:
The word resilience is often used on its own to represent overall adaptability and coping, but it can be broken down into categories or types:
Psychological resilience
Psychological resilience refers to the ability to mentally withstand or adapt to uncertainty, challenges, and adversity. It is sometimes referred to as “mental fortitude.”
People who exhibit psychological resilience develop coping strategies and capabilities that enable them to remain calm and focused during a crisis and move on without long-term negative consequences.
Emotional resilience
Emotionally resilient people understand what they’re feeling and why. They tap into realistic optimism, even when dealing with a crisis, and are proactive in using both internal and external resources.
As a result, they are able to manage stressors as well as their emotions in a healthy, positive way.
Physical resilience
Physical resilience refers to the body’s ability to adapt to challenges, maintain stamina and strength, and recover quickly and efficiently. It’s a person’s ability to function and recover when faced with illness, accidents, or other physical demands.
Community resilience
Community resilience refers to the ability of groups of people to respond to and recover from adverse situations, such as natural disasters, acts of violence, economic hardship, and other challenges to their community.
How to Build and Cultivate Resilience :
The Trait that can be learnt to become Resilient:
It’s helpful to think of resilience as a process. The process that would take you to learn to become Resilient.
The following are steps that can help build resilience over time:
Develop self-awareness.
Understanding how you typically respond to stress and adversity is the first step toward learning more adaptive strategies. Self-awareness also includes understanding your strengths and knowing your weaknesses.
Build self-regulation skills.
Remaining focused in the face of stress and adversity is important but not easy. Stress-reduction techniques, such as guided imagery, breathing exercise, and mindfulness training, can help individuals regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.
Learn coping skills.
There are many coping skills that can help in dealing with stressful and challenging situations. They include journaling, reframing thoughts, exercising, spending time outdoors, socializing, improving sleep hygiene, and tapping into creative outlets.
Increase optimism.
People who are more optimistic tend to feel more in control of their outcomes. To build optimism, focus on what you can do when faced with a challenge, and identify positive, problem-solving steps that you can take.
Strengthen connections.
Support systems can play a vital role in resilience. Bolster your existing social connections and find opportunities to build new ones.
Know your strengths.
People feel more capable and confident when they can identify and draw on their talents and strengths.
Characteristics of Resilient People
In general, resilient people have many of the following characteristics:
Focus of Control:
Focus on how you, as opposed to external forces, can control the outcome of events.
Social Support:
Rely on family, friends, and colleagues when needed.
Problem-Solving Skills :
Identify ways within your control to work and resolve a problem.
Optimism:
When the going gets tough, believe in your ability to handle it.
Coping Skills:
Find techniques to reduce stress and anxiety.
Self-Care :
Make your mental, emotional, and physical health top priorities.
Self-Awareness:
Know your strengths and weaknesses and how to put internal resources to work.
How Resilient Are You……….?
Are you ready to learn to become more Resilient—-?
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -— Nelson Mandela
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