Hoe to build psychological resilience

Psychological resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats and significant sources of stress. People who are resilient have developed the ability to problem-solve. People aren’t born with resilience but it’s something you can build. Pursuing resilience enables us to adapt to stressors in life.

Building resilience from grief

We all experience grief as a part of life, and we hope that we can turn to those we feel supported by. Listening to others who are grieving is beneficial for learning how they are feeling and coping. When grieving, it’s good to pace yourself. Ask yourself “is what I’m doing productive for my overall health and well-being?” Resilient grieving focuses on what we can do, providing a toolkit of strategies that help us cope with grief.

Strategies for Psychological resilience

Focus on Positives

Positivity can help us to feel good in the short term, and in the long term to help rewire our brains. Positive thinking activates areas of our brain that are key to resilient ways of thinking and behaving. Humans are programmed to think negatively as “negative” information causes a surge in inactivity, which would have been a coping strategy to respond to primal dangers. Behaviours and attitudes tend to be shaped more powerfully by bad news, experiences, and information.”. (Suttie, 2020). Positive thinking helps to counter the “bad” or “negative” information by improving the overall well-being, which decreases the chances of depression, anxiety, and expand your life expectancy. Emotions motivate our response to our circumstances and impact the life decisions we make. It’s important to surround yourself with positive people who support and love you for you. Be kind to yourself and find ways to build happiness that will bring positive emotions into your life whether it is through meditation, writing, playing a game or interacting with others who make you smile.

Set goals

Setting goals helps give a sense of control amidst challenges. Tools for resilience making goals that are reachable. A goal could be spreading awareness of your illness or having a theme for blogs coinciding with awareness days. Having goals to work on helps keep us all focused on something other than events that cause stress, anxiety, and/or depression. The more you practise goal setting, the stronger your resilience will become. Resilient people have solid goals, and a desire to achieve those goals.

How to set goals

Find an open door: The saying goes “when one door closes, another door opens.” The life you once had needs to be adjusted. Try and find new opportunities, using your experience to tell your story to inspire others. Surround yourself with those who will give you grace when you’re unable to socialise or are too tired to complete a task.

Asking for help is an opportunity for growth. Asking for can help you connect with others, who become your primary support system and community. Be open to showing your vulnerable side, which is powerful and shows strength. Don’t make assumptions that no one will help you, or have unreasonable expectations of yourself. Over time, asking for help gets easier. The more support you gain, the better equipped you’ll be to take on bigger challenges. If we are able to ask for help and obtain feedback, we can overcome setbacks and grow, which are key traits to building resilience.

You Choose how you live We continuously make life choices through our values and beliefs. If we make unhealthy choices, they can lead to negative consequences. Life is a choice! Everything we do, and what we say is a choice. You can choose to become bitter and resentful about your past or think about the good that’s happened. It’s important for you to look at your past and think about whether your past has any influence on the choices you make.

Build Self-awareness; Understand what your strengths and values are. Take a personality survey like the Enneagram to help you figure out who the type of person you are. Think about your passions: What gives you joy? Think about your hobbies and whether it can be something you can do daily to boost your motivation. Think about your skills: You could be a good listener may be or good at public speaking. If you know what your strengths are, equip these into everyday life. Ask your friends and family for feedback: This is a great resource for you to find out your skill and areas of improvement. Ask for brutal honesty.