Resilience, the best tool for life.
Since before pandemic times, and even during, I have been listening to people’s complaints about how tough things have been. If it is not economy, it is the job hunt struggle, something going on at home, money issues, home issues, husband issues..etc. the list can be endless.
There is always something that is not perfect, that just does not work our way. How do we face life and situations? and how do we cope with our feelings when we enter a state of emotional distress?
I have learned in life that the best tool to not let our emotions exhaust us and to be able to face adversity in a better way is to have resilience.
Resilience is the ability to adapt and overcome adversity, to be able to control our thoughts, emotions, and self-analyze.
I strongly believe that we can make better decisions and maintain mental health when we choose to see things differently and be able to modify not only our point of view but our feelings towards adverse situations.
But if you do not think you have the resilience to good decision-making in tough times, how do you build up to it?
how do you deal with life-changing events? from job loss to losing someone dear and close to you?
Here are some tips that could help you and that have worked for me in the past.
It is important to establish good relationships with close family, friends, and other important people in your life. Learn to accept help and support from them, you do not have to be alone. Having caring and supportive relationships within and outside the family that emanates love, trust and offer encouragement helps affirm a person’s resilience.
Avoid seeing your obstacles as insufferable or insuperable. Look for things or ways to make yourself feel better while going through your rough patch and understand that pain is temporary.
Accept that change is part of life and that changes come in different ways, sometimes not as we expect. Accept what you can not change and look for what you can and focus on that change.
Develop new goals, short-term and medium-term. Goals that you can achieve and feel accomplished. Focus on that that you can do.
Take action, do not ignore the problems and the tensions that they cause but act decisively on them.
When coping against adversity we get to learn more about ourselves, to discover things about us that change us, that make us grow. Use that to cultivate a positive view of yourself and to find other opportunities that can help you.
Keep it positive, keep building yourself up and if needed find help in books, help groups, or with an expert, like a psychologist. Building resilience is constant work.
