Building Resilience

Resilience describes the ability to recover from stress, trauma, or difficulty. It is a very useful ability to have because it can help a person cope with life's troubles. Resilience is a process that is continually evolving as someone develops their skill for coping and a positive mindset. The important thing is to try.

The first principle to achieving resilience is to develop a growth mindset. Individuals can choose to see challenges as an opportunity for growth, which allows them to learn from conditions rather than making the decision to quit and wallow in the anguish. Resilience can also be practiced as gratitude - the act of recognizing all of the things that are going well in your life; focusing on what is positive rather than negative.

The second principle to achieving resilience is skill development, specifically, problem-solving skills. Ideally, you want to begin to learn how to take the problems that you face and break them into manageable pieces, so that you do not feel overwhelmed. The third principle is to use supports. Reaching out to the people or situations that lead you to finding prevailing ideas is an important part of resilience. Positive people who support you can provide different perspectives or ideas to challenges.

Lastly, self-care can play a significant role in achieving resilience. Getting enough exercise, keeping a healthy diet, and, when possible, sleep can be an important way to maintain your physical and mental health and to be in a "fighting shape" when facing the stresses of life. If you can begin to implement a number of these practices and habits, you can learn resilience and thrive during difficult situations.