Let’s Talk Resilience: How Do We Overcome Challenges?
At some point in everyone’s life, they will face challenges. Whether it’s school, work, relationships, or random events they stumble upon, we know that adversity is a part of life. In some cases these challenges may even be traumatic. But what gets us through? What do we have as humans that pushes us past the challenge, to overcome? More than that, how do we develop more of this ability?
The Quality and Importance of Resilience
Resilience, per its definition, is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. This is the quality that allows humans to overcome in the face of adversity.
Resilience has long been studied as both an inherent and developed characteristic. Studies show that resilience can be seen as early as infancy, and develops across the lifespan. One study argues that the capacity for resiliency is established during infancy within parent-child relationships. As the infant’s regulatory capacities grow, so too does their capacity for resiliency into child- and adulthood.
Despite the obvious benefit of positive relationships and environments in infancy and childhood for the development of resilience, anyone can grow this ability at any time in their life. Many studies have shown the potential of adults, regardless of background, to develop and strengthen their capacity for resilience.
Why is this important?
Historically, the concept of mental health was seen through the lens of either a presence or absence of mental illness. But, more recently, we have learned that mental health encompasses many other aspects. According to The World Health Organization, the definition of mental health is a state of well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. Notice that the very first part of this definition is “the ability to cope with the stresses of life”.
If we strive to be truly healthy, we have to have resilience.
Cultivating Resilience
If you want to grow in you capacity for resilience, there are seven principles you can apply to your life to do so:
Competence: Throughout life, continue to learn and develop new skills that align with your interests and goals. Seek growth through opportunities like education, training, or new hobbies.
Coping: Develop healthy coping skills and mechanisms to manage stress and adversity. Utilize practices such as mindfulness, exercise, journaling, or social support.
Control: Identify aspects of a situation that are within your control and focus time and energy on those. Let go of what you cannot change and embrace an adaptive mindset for these situations. Seek alternative solutions and approaches when faced with a challenge.
Confidence: Utilize self-affirmation and celebrate achievements. Embrace a growth mindset and see failures as learning opportunities. Return to the idea that you have the capacity to overcome.
Character: Reflect on your values and align your behavior with them. Embrace having integrity, honesty, and empathy in your interactions with others, and emphasize personal growth, utilizing challenges as opportunities for character development.
Contribution: Find ways to make a meaningful and positive impact on the lives of others. Engage in activities such as volunteering or supporting causes that resonate with you. When you contribute to your community or those around you, you cultivate purpose and meaning.
Connection: Develop and feed into healthy relationships. Build a strong support network of individuals who offer compassion and challenge you. Foster honest, open communication, practice active listening, and offer support to others.
Life will inevitably throw curveballs. No one is immune to the potential for challenges. But when adversity presents itself, overcoming, learning from, and developing character from the challenge is a sign of true health. Not to do so signals that something is wrong. Despite your background or circumstances, everyone is capable of developing stronger resiliency and can do so by embracing the above seven principles. Don’t allow adversity to stop you from creating a strong and meaningful life.