Resilience is the ability to adapt to difficult or challenging experiences. It relates to psychological and emotional strength, self-awareness, mental and behavioral flexibility and persistence.
Being resilient does not mean that you won’t experience any stress, difficulty and emotional struggling ever again. It’s not avoiding setbacks or pretend they don’t affect you. Demonstrating resilience includes working through the pain and discomfort.
It’s important to note that being resilient requires a skillset that you can work on and grow over time. A powerful combination of coaching, practicing and encouragement can build resilience in every person and role.
Below you can find strategies to build and grow resilience:
- Increase self-awareness and self-regulation
By being aware of their thoughts, resilient people recognize feelings of overwhelm early and make their mental health a top priority. They have learned to say ‘no’ when required, respecting their personal boundaries. They hold space to tune into their emotions, remain calm, and think clearly under pressure. Try to spend your time and energy focusing on situations that you have control over. It’s worthless trying to change other people or events outside of our control.
- Promote self-efficacy and flexibility
Develop your critical skills and abilities to cope with challenges. Be open to new ideas and perspectives. Practise flexibility; when something is not working, adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Develop persistence and problem-solving skills
In case of complex problems, try to break them down into smaller, manageable tasks and come up with creative solutions. Maintain your motivation and focus on goals, even when the progress is slow.
- Embrace a growth mindset
Accept that change is a core part of living. Resilient people face difficulties as challenges, not as paralyzing events. They take their failures as lessons learned and as opportunities for growth. Your mistakes do not define your abilities or self-worth. Develop and strengthen skills through experiential learning, risk-taking, and persistence. Lean into obstacles and try new solutions. Explore different possibilities and think creatively.
- Communicate and connect
When things don’t go as planned, you will need support from your environment. Communicate in an open way your truth, your thoughts and your struggles. Respect, empathy and support are core elements to an open and honest communication. Make time and space for connection-building activities.
- Adopt a heathy lifestyle
Improve work-life balance and boost your total well-being. Getting meaningful rest and adopting self-care practices will prevent burnout and reduce stress. Adjust your schedule, be active and try meditation or mindfulness sessions. Have regular breaks when stressors arise. It’s important to consistently practise how to be calm, optimistic and empowered, so you can enforce these characteristics when you mostly need to.
By enforcing the above strategies, you take an active role in handling stressful and difficult events and you gain the power to actually choose your reaction.
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