What is Resilience and why is it important?
My definition of Resilience is:
The ability to journey through any trial, trauma or challenge, be it emotional, mental or physical, choosing to maintain a sense of self with calmness and resolute joy. Accepting that I am an imperfect person who makes mistakes and that mistakes can be made, but that it is an opportunity to learn and grow from them with optimism. Resilience is key to navigating life and it’s uncertainties successfully and healthily. It is a quality which empowers one to accept what they control and what they don’t control; it enables a person to focus on productivly improving their situation without adopting negative coping mechanisms. Why is it important? Let’s face it, bad things happen, pandemic arise, black people are murdered in the streets and their deaths played out in full colour on TV, natural disasters disrupts the lives of many, yearly. Life can bring difficulties and unexpected turn of events. Without resilience, we can be overwhelmingly consumed by traumatic experiences, imprisoned by negativity which stops us reaching our potential and being the full beautiful person we all deserve to know.
Where does Resilience come from?
There have been studies suggesting that resilience is a genetic predisposition of those with a strong sense of resilience. An article in Psychology Today states, “early environments and life circumstances play a role in how resilient genes are ultimately expressed.” Resilience is a quality we all possess however for some, it is not so readily apparent, for others it comes naturally. Either way, specific resilience building skills can be developed by anyone.
Tips on Building Resilience
Challenges not Problems – Change your mindset with difficulties. See them as an opportunity for growth, redefining relationships with yourself and others and a challenge to better your situation.
Get enough sleep – When you go through any challenge, it can be hard not to be soley focused on it but practice mindfulness before going to sleep to ensure uninterrupted rest. Turn off the television a half hour before sleep, sign out of social media apps, set screen time restrictions on our phone.
Prayer or Positive Affirmations – Whatever your belief system, tap into spiritual source. Personally I pray and reestablish my relationship with God when I am feeling weak. One scripture I use as a personal affirmation, even when I am running, is “For when I am weak, then I am powerful”.
Control – Accepting what events are out of your control can help you to store up strength and resilience for when you really need it to handle a situation within your control. Let. It. Go.
Work with Pinkage Coaching – Book time with me, a life coach specialising in building resilience. Whilst family and friends are a great source of help, they are usually too close to you to be objective. They are an amazing source of encouragement and love, but being strategic about building resilience takes work. Contact me today at pinkagecoaching@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram @pinkagecoaching
For when I am weak, then I am powerful. 2 Corinthians 12:10 NWT