Remember, we all experience bad days, and we all go through our share of crises. But we choose how we respond; we can choose to react negatively or in a panic, or we can choose to remain calm and logical to find a solution. Your reaction is always up to you.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back when things don’t go as planned. Yet self-care, talking it through with supportive people, positive emotions, awareness, and believing that this won’t last forever, are indeed skills that can get you through it.
If you’re in a place where you can use some help getting through a difficult time, you can count on the skills below to help.
Skill 1: Cultivate a Belief in Your Ability to Cope
Practice thought awareness. Remember, resilient people are confident that they will succeed eventually, despite the setbacks or stresses they might face. This belief in themselves also enables them to take risks: when you develop confidence and a strong sense of self, you have the strength to keep moving forward and to take the risks you need to get ahead.
Skill 2: Stay Connected With Sources of Support
Develop strong relationships with others. People who have strong connections with others are more resistant to stress, and they’re happier. This goes for your personal life and your work life: the more real friendships you develop, the more resilient you’re going to be because you have a strong support network to fall back on.
Skill 3: Talk About What You’re Going Through
Get perspectives from those who aren’t a part of the situation and talk about it. Find a coach that will help you move forward and even create new goals that are the antithesis of what has happened. Learn from your mistakes and failures. Every mistake has the power to teach you something important, so don’t stop searching until you’ve found the lesson in every situation.
Skill 4: Take Care of Yourself
Get enough sleep, exercise, eat well and learn to manage stress. Poor sleep can quickly lead to reduced performance at work from lack of concentration, poor memory, diminished motivation, impaired judgment, and irritability. Lack of sleep can also cause the body to crave high-calorie foods, potentially leading to weight gain. All of these side-effects can increase stress, which, in turn, can adversely affect your sleep and work. When you take care of your mind and body, you’re better able to cope effectively with your life challenges. Eat well, maybe even better than usual, and watch the mindnumbing solutions such as alcohol.
Skill 5: Activate Positive Emotion
Resilient people don’t let negative thoughts derail their efforts. Instead, they consistently practice positive thinking. Also, “listen” to how you talk to yourself when something goes wrong – if you find yourself making statements that blame yourself or others, maybe make you a victim, correct these thoughts in your mind.
Skill 6: Cultivate an Attitude of Survivorship
Maintain perspective. Resilient people understand that, although a situation or crisis may seem overwhelming at the moment, it may not make that much of an impact over the long-term. Try to avoid blowing events out of proportion. And focus on being flexible. Resilient people understand that things change and that carefully-made plans may, occasionally, need to be amended or scrapped.
Remember, you CAN develop resilience and overcome setbacks. It’s about your thoughts, your emotions, and your attitude that can help you through it.
Reference- Mind Tools