There is a 70% chance that we will face severe adversity during our lives. However, the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder in the general population is only about 8%. This indicates that humanity can recover from significant challenges.
Resilience means bouncing back from difficulties and even thriving in such situations.
What is Resilience?
Resilience is the process and outcome of effectively adapting to challenging life experiences, primarily through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.
There are five types of human resilience:
- Physical resilience refers to the body’s ability to respond to physical challenges, such as illness or accidents, heal, or manage ongoing health conditions.
- Mental resilience denotes our capacity to handle challenging circumstances by problem-solving, generating viable alternatives, and being agile, creative, and flexible in our thinking—the ability to adapt to change and develop solutions to problems.
- Emotional resilience involves managing our responses to challenges and coping with negative emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness. Accepting our situation while maintaining the strength to endure it is essential. Emotional awareness aids in understanding our reactions to challenges, minimizing their impact on ourselves and others.
- Social resilience emphasizes our connections with others and our ability to support each other during tough times. Community, family, and friendship support are crucial when navigating personal or collective challenges.
- Community Resilience: is the ability of the community to overcome adversity and to uplift its members by providing timely support
Characteristics of a Resilient Person
- Positive Outlook and Optimism: Resilient people tend to see the positive side of situations and maintain hope even during adversity.
- Adaptability and flexibility: They can adjust to changing circumstances and find new ways to approach challenges.
- Emotional regulation: The ability to manage emotions effectively, including recognizing triggers and responding appropriately.
- Self-awareness: Understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses to navigate difficult situations.
- Problem-Solving Skills: The problem-solving process includes identifying the problem, addressing it, better understanding it, investigating solutions, and taking action to resolve the issue.
- Social support: Strong relationships with others provide a safety net and emotional support.
- Sense of Purpose and Moral Compass: A sense of purpose in life is a meaningful feeling that provides direction, guiding one’s actions and choices. A moral compass is a person’s internal sense of right and wrong that guides their ethical decisions and behavior.
How do we develop resilience? Calm Blog:
1. Nurture strong relationships: Relationships are your support network. Invest time and effort in building and maintaining good relationships with family, friends, and colleagues.
2. Prioritize physical health: Your physical well-being significantly impacts your resilience. A healthy body can cope better with stress and recover faster from illness or fatigue.
3. Discover your purpose: A sense of purpose can provide direction and motivation, especially during difficult times. It can be discovered in your job, hobbies, volunteering, or relationships. Helping others in similar situations can help you better understand your troubles.
4. Embrace change: Accepting and adapting to change can make you more resilient and flexible. Identify a recent change in your life and journal what new opportunities or learning experiences it brought you.
5. Build self-confidence: Confidence in your abilities can help you face challenges more effectively. To remind yourself of your capabilities, list your strengths, accomplishments, and lessons learned from failure.
6. Maintain perspective: Acknowledge your feelings around a given situation, but also consider the bigger picture to help prevent you from getting overwhelmed. When faced with a challenge, write down both positive and negative aspects to maintain a balanced view.
7. Develop problem-solving skills: Solving problems can enhance resilience because it empowers people to take action. Next time you face a problem, brainstorm possible solutions before deciding what to do.
8. Learn stress management techniques: Effective stress management is crucial during difficult times. Explore stress-relief activities—like meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, therapy, walking, or journaling—to find what works best for you.
Whenever you think your problems are unique and impossible, visit this fascinating Guardian website, which will make you feel better.
Tarak Vasavada, MD
Medical director,
Live Well Foundation of Madison County Medical Society