Building resilience may help you manage stress, overcome adversity, and appreciate the better days ahead, whether you’re experiencing a global or personal crisis—or a combination of the two.
The globe appears to be lurching from one catastrophe to the next lately. We’ve seen a global epidemic, huge changes in how we live our lives, economic uncertainty, political and social unrest, and a slew of natural calamities.
People are also struggling with personal traumas such as the loss of a loved one, poor health, unemployment, divorce, violent crime, or terrible accidents. This is a period of extraordinary strife and change for many of us.
Whether the source of your disturbance is a global catastrophe or a personal tragedy—or both—going through terrible times can have a significant impact on your emotions, health, and outlook.
Stress and worry can leave you feeling helpless and overwhelmed. You may be in agony over what you’ve lost, overwhelmed by a torrent of unpleasant, conflicting feelings, or unsure of how to proceed with your life. You may even believe that your life is completely out of control and that you have no control over what happens next.
While there is no way to prevent sadness, misfortune, or pain in life, there are methods for smoothing the turbulent waves and regaining control. Resilience and the right mindset are the ability to cope with loss, change, and tragedy, which have always been part of life even before these remarkable times.
Building resilience can help you better adjust to life-changing events, cope with adversity, and recover from catastrophe.
Increasing Resilience
If you’re more sensitive to emotional pain and find it difficult to cope with suffering or tragedy, you shouldn’t think of it as a character flaw. Resilience is not a macho attribute, nor is it a set trait; it is an ongoing process that takes time and effort to develop and sustain.
Unless you’ve already faced adversity, it’s doubtful you’ve had the need or chance to develop resilience. Drawing on past experiences can help you deal with current issues. Even if you’ve struggled to cope with tragedy in the past, you may be able to recognize some of the coping strategies that DON’T work, such as using drugs or alcohol to numb your feelings.
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Accept the situation as is
Change is an unavoidable element of life, and many aspects of it are beyond your particular control. You cannot control the spread of a virus, the rate of societal change, or the behavior of the economy. While it may be difficult to admit, ranting against events or circumstances beyond your control will simply deplete your energy and leave you feeling nervous and despairing.
Accepting your situation, on the other hand, can free up your energy to focus on the areas over which you do have control. Whether that is the death of a loved one or developing issues from exposure to Aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) when you are at a point where you cannot control the outcome you can control how you act and feel about the situation.
Difficult times are part of life and whiles some of these situations are uncontrollable, you should be able to pull through with the above tips.
