Building Resilience Amid a Pandemic
Resilience is a psychological quality that enables some to recover from adversity, adapt, move forward, and even grow from life's challenges. Genetics, personal experience, environment, and context of experiences dictate resilience. Being resilient doesn't mean you won't experience difficulty in your life. The difference is how a resilient individual responds to adversity.
Our resilience is most influenced in our childhood and teens by the quality of our close personal relationships, especially with caregivers. The patterns we develop when we are young determine how we cope with adversity throughout our lives.
Resilient people have many characteristics in common. The NY Times article, What Makes Some People More Resilient Than Others, lists several of these factors:
- a positive, realistic outlook-not dwelling on negatives and striving to find positives in the adverse event.
- a strong moral compass.
- spirituality--not necessarily religion, but the belief in something greater than themselves.
- altruism-dedication to others leads to a sense of purpose.
- a focus only on things they can change.
- a strong sense of purpose and meaning.
- a robust social support system network and an interest in supporting others.
Amid a pandemic, most of us could use a resilience boost. Although it takes time and effort, it is possible to improve your resilience. Building your reslience, discusses how to build resilience. To build resilience, focus on four key components: connection, wellness, healthy thinking, and meaning. The article suggests:
- prioritizing individual relationships with empathetic, responsive people.
- join groups that align with interests or activities.
- take care of your mind and body with exercise and mindfulness/meditation.
- avoid non-productive coping habits such as using drugs or alcohol. Substances are a temporary distraction from real issues.
- help others-either as a volunteer or a supportive friend.
- try to find the positives in any situation, no matter the challenge.
- try to minimize negative thoughts. Most times, you can't change a challenging situation. What you can control is how you respond to the challenge.
- accept that change, both good and bad, is part of life.
- move forward toward life goals.
- embrace the opportunity within adversity to learn more about yourself.
- try to re-apply healthy responses from your past.
If you're struggling, a mental health professional can work with you to overcome past trauma and help you build your resiliency muscles.
Stay well.