Why building resilience can help you deal with what life throws at you
Ever get the feeling that your co-worker or best friend is dealing with life a little better than you are right now? It’s not that they are more intelligent, organised, calmer or wiser than you. It may just be that they are showing signs of having more resilience than you. Life gets messy, this past year has shown us all sides of what life can throw at us and some of us are dealing better with it than others. There’s no shame in that, there’s no worry in that - the most important thing is how you deal with the stressors life throws at you and how you build a mindset to keep going even when the going gets tough.
You might not have thought about it in this way but this is the art of the resilient mindset. It’s not just about having a positive mindset but about showing resilience and strength continuously. Resilience is important because it gives people the strength needed to process and overcome hardship. Those lacking resilience get easily overwhelmed and may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms. Resilient people tap into their strengths and support systems to overcome challenges and work through problems.
Resilience is not a trait that people either have or don’t have. It involves developing behaviours, thoughts and actions that can be learnt and practised. So there is hope for us all yet!
What is resilience?
Resilience is often described as “rolling with the punches”, learning from circumstances quickly and with the least negative effect but it’s not a short term process. Resilience is something that can be called upon continuously in our lives as we deal with daily stressors as well as big events or life situations. It’s all about having the capability to “bounce back” quickly when we face disappointment, failure or big life issues. Instead of letting the enormity of situations keep us down, we throw a quick pity party and get up with a smile on our face and continue to live our lives.
Being resilient won't see your problems go away but it can give you the ability to see beyond them and get more enjoyment from your life by managing stress and pressures better. Coping through resilience can help with managing anxiety, depression and mental health conditions.
Resilience is not a permanent state. A person may feel equipped to manage one stressor and overwhelmed by another. Tapping into the skills and methods it takes to build resilience can help you apply them when dealing with adversity.
Building resilience comes from a lot of self-reflection and inner work but it is worth it and is far from woo-woo. This is about making sure that you have the systems and skills in place to deal with big events or little stress triggers in a way that means you can continue to maintain a positive mindset. Finding ways to reduce stress and anxiety are key, building your coping skills and also building a support system around you with family, friends and colleagues that you can tap into when needed. Human connection and support are vital to be living at our best. Being able to problem solve and see a way out of situations also helps, doing so with a sense of optimism speeds up the resilience-building process. Ultimately being aware of your strengths and weaknesses and how you can apply them to situations will help you see a way through even the toughest moments. By doing the inner work, we can build a positive mindset, a resilient strength and be able to handle situations as they come our way.
Learn how to build and cultivate resilience
In this blog post, I’ve shared the ‘what’ and ‘why’ when it comes to cultivating resilience and boosting your mindset for success. If you’d like to know the ‘how’ then join me for my Cultivate Resilience Workshop on Wednesday 28th April
In this 90 minute workshop, we will be covering:
Why is resilience important
How to build & cultivate resilience
How to bring more self care into your day to day life
Join us if you want to know how to deal with small and big stressful situations better, build your positive mindset and lead a calmer more relaxed life. As April is Stress Awareness Month this is the perfect month to join this workshop to talk about resilience, and how by building and cultivating your resilience you can tackle stress before overwhelm and burnout occurs.
The session will be recorded so if you can’t make it live you can watch the replay.
Save your space and buy your ticket here