Resilience for Beginners

You know that feeling of relief and mental clarity that happens after you've been really hungry (or low), and you get enough carbs in your system to begin to feel whole again?

Going from a feeling of physical emptiness, mind searching for any possible way to meet the body's needs, wondering if you'll get the job done in time...and then knowing that you've risen above the challenge, almost forgetting how unfortunate the situation was at its worst moments. That's the physical feeling that I would attribute to the idea of "resilience". 

There are so many reasons why resilience is an important attribute to continue building over time. Specifically, I can think of many diabetes or chronic illness-related situations that require resilience...what comes to mind for you?

How do you cope when presented with a challenge? Do you feel that your ability to "bounce back" after a setback is strong?

Resilience encompasses these ideas and is something we could all work on, no matter how strong we think we are already. Resilience is more than just the ability to bounce back or cope, but rather a lens through which we view ourselves, interactions with others, our sense of purpose, and ability to take on new challenges as we move forward. 

The inner work we do to strengthen our own resilience is often focused on ourselves, but the truth is that even when we focus on building up the resilience of the people around us, we benefit. Here are some ways you can pay it forward to the other individuals in your life, while stretching your own resilience-ready muscles. 

• Provide encouragement and positive feedback.

• Listen.

• Demonstrate mutual respect.

• Change up your routines and wake up your brain.

• Consider the opinions of those closest to you.

• Get into new settings.

• Find time for play (and hold onto the mindset even when playtime is over).

• Do different things.

  • Pick up a new skill

  • Come up with new ideas

  • Exercise the strengths you already have by practicing them again and again

All of these exercises in mutual resilience building are probably actions that we already carry in our toolkit, but forget to put into play on a regular basis. The busier we get, the easier it is to overlook taking this time for ourselves, but those times are usually when we need our ability to be resilient the most.