Building Resilience

Building Resilience

 Life is unpredictable and filled with ups and downs. No matter how carefully we plan, there are always going to be unexpected stressors and challenges that test our ability to cope. While we can't control everything, we can take charge of how we respond, and that's where resilience comes in.

Resilience refers to how well you can deal with and bounce back from life's difficulties. The good news resilience can be learned.

Strategies to Build Resilience

.1.    Be intentional about the people you spend your time with. Create a positive environment with people who have a positive mindset. Moods and emotions are contagious surround yourself with the emotions you want to catch.

2.    Be flexible in your thinking – see problems as opportunities. Even if the opportunity is growth and learning, you will still get value out of your problems/failures.

3.    Be self-aware of your own thinking. How do you talk to yourself? How do you treat yourself? Are you constantly self-criticizing? You must change your own mindset from negative to positive.

4.     Positive affirmations – remind yourself daily of who you are and where you want to be. I remind myself daily that” I’m abundant”.

5.    Face your fears – change is the only constant which I have said before but is so important to repeat. You will always deal with change and transitions. Face them, feel your emotions and take action to move forward by challenging yourself daily with small risks. If you know what scares you currently then take small baby steps to expose yourself to the fear slowly and in small doses

6.    Feel your fears with self-compassion - be conscious of what your feeling/fearing but without judgement. Remember, you’re not alone, many others have the same fears as you do. Show yourself some empathy and kindness. Compliment yourself for your effort of facing your fears by being self-aware of what they are and making a commitment to face them.

7.    Can/Can’t control – certain goals are no longer attainable. Accepting things, you can’t change, leaves room for you to work on the things you can change.

8.    Remind yourself of past situations/trauma’s you have made it through. Remind yourself how you did it? Did you make changes? Did you accept your situation? Set goals with actionable steps? Did you write it out? Etc.

10.  Re-train your brain to positive by asking yourself every evening – what are 2-3 things I did well today? Really dive in and write down what you did well and how you did it? You can even write down, how you felt after each good thing.

11.  Turn a negative situation into a sense of purpose. Ask yourself: What is useful from this situation that I can use to transform my life or others? What are my choices after this situation that can lead me into positive change? Why is this situation important to my transition? How will I use my knowledge gained from my problem/failure to better my life or not make the same mistake again? Even though the situation might be negative, what positive aspects can I identify? How will this mistake/failure allow me to help others? 

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