Resilience: The Power to Overcome, Adjust, and Persevere
I begin most of my training sessions by inviting the participants to define or share their thoughts about the topic of focus. Not only does this encourage participation, but it also helps to identify the audience’s baseline of knowledge. Resiliency, a popular topic of discussion over the last year or so, tends to generate a variety of answers similar to the ones below.
Always performing your best
Standing strong when life throws challenges your way
Having the ability to move forward
Not breaking down or appearing weak
The strength to cope with various obstacles simultaneously
Most people seem to associate resilience with consistently pushing forward, coping without emotionally breaking down, and succeeding time and time again. All qualities, though, that by definition seem to be more associated with stamina rather than resilience. Stamina is generally associated with sustaining physical exertion within a known block of time. For example, having the energy to finish a marathon or play all four quarters of the game with the same intensity and strength. Sports and physical competitions are scheduled and the duration or goal is common knowledge to those participating. There is training involved and time allotted for rest and recovery.
Events or experiences that require resilience tend to occur without warning, lack a structured format, and can be highly unpredictable. Typically there are no known timeframes or clues to inform you about what may happen next. Of course, the most recent example being the pandemic and how it continues to impact us socially, academically, politically, and economically. It has been a long, intense journey, but also one that has provided unique opportunities to pause, reflect, and rearrange priorities.
How do some people:
Remain hopeful and creatively adapt?
Push forward and live through life's hardships?
Consistently access their resilience and avoid stagnation?
Genetic factors can play a small role in one’s level of resilience, but overall it is something that is learned and acquired through action and perception. Life is not a sprint, but rather a marathon through valleys, mountains, sunshine, and rain. Building resilience consists of several steps. Ones that require time to reflect, acknowledge, adjust, and restore. Individuals with high levels of self-awareness and self-connection tend to be the most resilient people on the planet.
We can persevere through difficult times and uncomfortable obstacles. The necessary tools are already something we possess. They may just need to be activated or nurtured.
Every time you challenge yourself and live with an open mind and open heart, you are increasing your repetitions and in turn, building your confidence and. As humans, we are designed to experience an array of feelings. If we choose to constantly suppress or avoid the difficult ones, it becomes harder to access the extraordinary ones too.