Building Personal Resilience
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The dictionary definition of resilience is “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties…toughness”. The reality of life is that at some point and in small ways, perhaps regularly, we will need to be resilient…Recovering quickly from setbacks.
While on many occasions, we will just muddle through to get to the other side, there are some key skills that will help.
- Find a purpose…This is very much a big picture action. Based on the scale of adversity, there may be a need to change our entire “raison d’etre” …Why we get out of bed in the morning. This could be a purpose that consumes us in adversity and helps to feel that we are doing something for the benefit of others. Out of tragedy, we see people creating charities to help others.
- Developing self-confidence. Often, we cannot change a situation…We have to adapt, draw a line in the sand and move on. Park all negative thoughts, clear the mind of junk, and start to look at a situation with different eyes. I can change this…I know how to, and this is what I am going to do!
- Linked to the above, the creation of goals is important. These do not have to be huge. More baby steps to help you on your journey, as you tick off each one, set a new goal, and be proud of having the hit the previous one! Many small steps soon become huge strides!
- Develop “problem solving skills”. Not as hard as you may think! Every challenge has a solution. Sit down in a comfortable and quiet space. Write down any ideas that come into your mind. The more the better! Start to link them together and start to form a plan.
- Take positive actions. This links to the previous point. Once you feel that you are physically taking action, your mindset will start to change.
- Don’t take things personally. We all experience difficult and challenging times…Yes, this is about you, but very much about how you react!
- We are never alone…There are 7 billion people on this earth…Your situation will not be unique. Talk to people, ask for advice, ask for help. People will be delighted to help!
- Smile…It always helps…And remember, while it may not seem it at the time…You WILL get to the other side. When you do, look back, learn from the experience, and say “Yep I made it”!
Resilience makes us stronger for the next time and to remind us how to help others.
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the
courage to continue that counts”
Winston Churchill