Cultivating Resilience – Part 6 – AUTHENTIC LIVING LLC

Would you describe yourself as resilient? On a scale of 1 – 10, where do you rank? Is there a test like the well-known personality tests that can measure resilience? According to Norman Garmezy, a Developmental Psychologist, we cannot determine if someone is resilient or not unless they experience adversity.

It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges: Do you succumb or do you surmount?

Norman Garmezy, Developmental Psychologist

I think most people, including psychologists, would agree that the ability to be resilient is very helpful. When you have resilience, you access a part of yourself that helps you recover from something negative that has happened. You may have lost your job, be experiencing a serious illness, or maybe the death of a loved one. Those who are low on the resilience scale might dwell on their problems, feel like a victim, become overwhelmed, or resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as drinking or taking drugs.

The Mayo Clinic wants to help. If you are not as resilient as you would like to be, you can develop skills to become better prepared to handle a disaster. Staff from the clinic assert that resilience is not the same as “toughing it out”, being stoic or going it alone. In fact, they say, seeking help is a necessary component of being resilient.

Here are recommendations to develop resiliency from the Mayo Clinic:

Get connected. Building strong, positive relationships with loved ones and friends can provide you with needed support and acceptance in both good times and bad. Establish other important connections by volunteering or joining a faith or spiritual community.
Make every day meaningful. Do something that gives you a sense of accomplishment and purpose every day. Set goals to help you look toward the future with meaning.
Learn from experience. Think of how you’ve coped with hardships in the past. Consider the skills and strategies that helped you through rough times. You might even write about past experiences in a journal to help you identify positive and negative behavior patterns — and guide your future behavior.
Remain hopeful. You can’t change the past, but you can always look toward the future. Accepting and even anticipating change makes it easier to adapt and view new challenges with less anxiety.
Take care of yourself. Tend to your own needs and feelings. Participate in activities and hobbies you enjoy. Include physical activity in your daily routine. Get plenty of sleep. Eat a healthy diet. Practice stress management and relaxation techniques, such as yoga, meditation, guided imagery, deep breathing or prayer.
Be proactive. Don’t ignore your problems. Instead, figure out what needs to be done, make a plan, and take action. Although it can take time to recover from a major setback, traumatic event or loss, know that your situation can improve if you work at it.