“I’m so stressed…!!” How many times do we
say this? Think this? Hear others saying it? In our busy lives, often. And whilst stress has very negative
connotations (and of course chronic stress is a bad thing both in terms of our emotional
well being but also our physical well being) a certain level of stress can be
healthy. Why? Well, stress can build up our ‘preparedness’ like a kind of
vaccination against future stress. In effect we can become more resilient. And it
goes without saying that resilience is a very good thing to have from our
mental well-being and performance as well as on our physical health.
So how do we become more resilient? The
key, as always, is to start with those 4 dimensions of the human being…
Physical – participation in physical
activity has been shown to build our resilience levels to stress, mental and
physical illness. Physical activity does not necessarily mean strenuous
exercise. 30 minutes activity a day will suffice (even broken down into 3 x 10
minute sessions) so whether that’s a power walk at lunch or taking the stairs
instead of the escalator, just get active!
Emotional – Experiencing a high level of positive emotions encourages a more resilient nature and whilst some of our ‘happiness’ levels are genetic there is much we can do to get happier! Watch a funny video, focus on your breathing to reduce negative emotions or take 5 minutes a day to feel grateful for what you have in your life (gratitude is a real ‘happiness’ booster!)
Intellectual - We naturally when faced with
a challenging event go into negative thinking traps and one of the main ways to
gain more resilience is to reduce our negative or pessimistic thinking. For example applying Beck's (1976) ABCDE
approach to thought process. Take a moment to think about a challenging experience or event from your life and write down some thoughts using the following guide:
- Adversity (What was the event?)
- Beliefs (What was going through your mind at the time of the event?)
- Consequences (What did your beliefs lead you to do, think or feel?)
- Disputation (What are your internal arguments against those automatic beliefs?)
- Energization (What do you think and feel now about the event?)
This simple, intellectualising process can help to significantly increase your
resilience levels by challenging and reevaluating any unrealistic or self-limiting beliefs.
Intentional – Viktor Frankl’s famous and
moving book – Man’s Search for Meaning identifies a theory of human drive (and
ultimately survival). The meaning we give to our live. We choose what the
meaning of our lives is and we also choose our reactions to events. And these
choices we make lead to the building of our resilience… or not. Start by
counting to 10 before you react or respond in a situation and take those
precious seconds to really choose your reaction consciously thinking about what
the effect will be both on you, and other people.
Finally, in terms of our shared culture or
environment – social support is critical to maintaining our resilience levels.
No man is an island and taking responsibility to surround ourselves with
family, friends, colleagues, mentors that are there for us in the good times
and the bad times and have a positive influence on our lives is paramount.
Posted By Penelope
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