With the onset of daily news reports being enough to make you want to run away and hide in the nearest hole in the ground. Is it any wonder that mental health issues are growing daily in our homes, school, and communities?
Fear of losing our health, our homes, and our loved ones when reading media representations of situations such as the recent coronavirus outbreak, rising fear within the financial sector, and many other factors contributing to the general public feeling lower, many are more discouraged and frightened about their future than ever before.
I’m this article we’re going to look at how vital it is to keep positive and gain such skills as resilience to power through these uncertain times, along with defining resilience and more.
Let’s first take a brief look as to whether resistance is a skill that can be actively learned.
Can resilience be learned? Resilience is not only inbuilt into your personality, but you can also develop your resilience when faced with shocking world news events and other situations in your personal life. Learning to be less passive, more grateful and more autonomous will help to build more resilience in your life.
So now we have covered the first base, let’s delve a little more into resilience and why it’s important to bring our most positive and resilient self to our daily encounters.
What actually is resilience?
Resilience, as a psychological element was first written about in the 1970s. An American developmental psychologist called Emmy Werner studied the entire 1955 birth year group of a relatively poor Hawaiian Island of Kauai.
The findings of her research were published in 1973 where the chief developments were the discovery that 2/3rds of the study group who had issues at home with parents who were either alcoholic or mentally ill parents, went on to have troubles in their early adult lives.
However, one-third of the young adults displayed no difficulties at all and were described as ‘resilient.’
Resilience in our daily lives is more often than not described as the ability to bounce back from traumatic events and situations.
Wiki gives a dictionary explanation below:
“Resilience exists when the person uses “mental processes and behaviors in promoting personal assets and protecting self from the potential negative effects of stressors”
Or maybe you could use the word “bouncebackability” which perhaps is the more “modern term” recently added to the English Dictionary!
Perhaps though, put more simply, we see resilience in those who have the ability to keep calm under stress and in a crisis with the ability to move on from the situation without future issues or lasting consequences.
So now we’ve seen exactly what resilience refers to, what are the kinds of situations, personality traits, underlying undiagnosed or diagnosed health conditions, and other types of psychological stimuli which can prevent resilience?
What is a lack of resilience?
Let’s take a look at some of the factors and ways of conducting ourselves which could add up to a lack of resilience, in order to help us more identify those traits.
Overthinking
According to recent surveys and reports by experts which look to uncover exactly how resilient we are and how it affects us, it’s been discovered that over-analyzing can be a great factor in making us less resilient.
Lack of perspective
The above report also found out that the less resilient have trouble keeping things in perspective. 63% of those surveyed said they spent less of their time worrying unnecessarily about challenging situations than their less resilient counterparts. They’re more able to take situations in their stride.
Passive
It was also found that those with a more passive personality and who were not comfortable with challenging the status quo, also lacked the necessary skills to be resilient. Those who were more likely to shy away from one-to-one interactions were also likely to not display as much resilience as those who didn’t avoid them.
Health problems
Interestingly it appears that the less resilient you are can also depend on your general health. When the above survey looked into levels of resilience they found that those with the below disorders were less likely to display resilience.
- Eating disorders
- Irritable bowel
- Asthma
- Clinical depression
- ADHD
- OCD
- Bipolar disorder
- PTSD
So how can we actively begin to build up the kind of outcomes in our lives which will see us being more resilient and able to cope with the oppressive news items bombarding our screens due to global situations such as the coronavirus and the lack of faith within the banking industry?
Let’s look at some great ways to work on your resilience techniques.
To give you a flying start in the ability to take stories of viral mayhem and global financial problems on the chin whilst keeping a sense of perspective.
How do I learn to be more resilient?
According to other experts, once you take some positive steps to deal with your overall wellbeing it’s possible to learn the skills of resilience.
Any positive steps you take in looking after yourself and your wellbeing will enable you to more fully deal with setbacks or other hiccups in your life.
Resilience isn’t only inbuilt in your personality, it can be learned.
Bouncing back from traumatic episodes is simple if you follow a few steps. Let’s take a look.
1. Be autonomous
It’s not just adults that are affected by the doom and gloom they hear about from the mainstream media in terms of global catastrophes, children get affected too.
According to experts, you can help the youngest members of your family to develop resilience traits by encouraging autonomy and responsibility.
Research shows people don’t always seek autonomy because it’s accompanied by accountability. Resilient people embrace autonomy and the uncertainty that comes with it, knowing that each experience of empowerment will give them an opportunity to practice flexibility on the fly.
So look for opportunities to ask for autonomy. To make those who would grant it more comfortable with doing so, establish a clear scope for autonomy and ensure check-ins with the delegator.
After all, you want autonomy, not absenteeism, from your boss. And if you’re an entrepreneur be sure to grant autonomy liberally to employees.
2. You are in control
In easy-to-understand terms, those who show greater signs of resilience believed that situations that happened were down to their choices and happened for them not simply happened to them.
Keeping the faith that it’s your ability which determines your future and not simply a question of ‘fate’ helps to build a more resilient outlook.
Try to view challenging situations more like a setback than an utter collapse or trauma. This will help to build the necessary confidence to allow progression and positive change.
“Keeping the faith that it’s your ability which determines your future and not simply a question of fate”.
3. Be more easy-going
Try to make sure you learn to laugh a little and let go more of challenging situations with a bright and breezy and more easy-going demeanor. Bring your best good nature to the fore and sparkle in social situations.
4. Practice gratitude
Whilst you’re grateful for the world around you, in terms of your home. Family, work, and other precious situations it’s easier to let go of negativity and not sit for as much time mulling over recent events.
This will help you keep things in perspective and drive resilience…
5. Develop pragmatism
Pragmatism comes when you can look over past events to see how you previously got over adverse tunes and troubles. This can include any major events – both globally and individually, from which you have recovered …without any future difficulties occurring.
Resilient people don’t wallow or dwell on failures; they acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward.
To finish on…
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how you can really learn to be more resilient, particularly when facing some of the major news events recently with issues that could affect us all.
Whether it’s financial or other challenging issues such as the current coronavirus, and work on developing a more resilient approach …to more easily cope with the challenges you face in your own personal lives too.
Start today and begin to see a better future.
If you would like to know more about this topic or have any questions, I’d love to hear from you, check out my change is good! presentation, and my other services.
“Our world is changing and changing FAST. Whether exploring generations in the workplace, promoting culture and inclusion, or boosting employee engagement, Karen McCullough’s keynotes provide the tools organizations need to face change head-on and thrive.”