Building Resilience for Managing Life's Challenges
When we talk about resilience, we’re talking about our ability to cope well with the ups and downs and bounce back from life's challenges.
For example, we all find our resilience is tested when we are implementing new or unfamiliar changes, moving out of our comfort zone, feeling frustrated or anxious about something or someone, dealing with conflict within a relationship, feeling under pressure to perform, experiencing boredom, or recovering from mental or physical trauma or injury.
Building resilience helps us to not only manage current challenges of everyday life, but also to develop better skills and habits that will help us to deal with future difficulties throughout the lifespan.
Common signs of low resilience
Inability to emotionally regulate ourselves e.g., increased irritability, tiredness, low energy, intolerance, mood swings, depression, anxiety, eating and appetite problems, low self-esteem.
Trouble sleeping e.g., Insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, nocturnal enuresis
Withdrawal or avoidance from social and/or intimate situations e.g., social isolation, loneliness, not interacting with friends or family, or becoming overly dependent and reliant on others for support
Avoiding seeking or asking for help e.g., from family, friends, colleagues, employers, or medical and psychological professionals
Struggles with work or study, e.g., poor performance, low motivation, avoiding work/study, inability to concentrate or difficulty absorbing information, procrastination, lack of confidence.
Frequent aches and pains
Adopting unhealthy or inappropriate behavioural responses to stress & anxiety e.g., overeating, drinking alcohol, smoking, drug use, nail-biting, thumb sucking, etc.
Resilience is as important for our mental health as it is for our physical well-being. The greater our resilience, the better equipped we are to manage common responses to stressful events. The better we deal with stressful events the lower our risk of developing mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
No matter how skilled we believe we are at navigating the physical and psychosocial world, there is always room for improvement. Resilience is a set of skills that we can all have and is strengthened through persistence and practice.
Resilience helps us stand strong and relaxed in the face of adversity for example when we feel misjudged, mistreated, disrespected, misunderstood, abused, or bullied, etc.
It prevents us from either becoming aggressive and angry towards others or events that can make us feel that way, or from turning the negativity inwards towards ourselves leaving us feeling anxious, stressed, fearful, with reduced self-confidence and self-esteem, depressed, avoidant, physically unwell, experiencing suicidal ideation, isolation, and loneliness, etc.
No matter how old we are, or what our background or social status is, resilience is something we all build through experience and use widely in all kinds of situations to manage all kinds of difficulties. Sometimes, however, it takes a little more time than usual to access it when we really need it!
