
3 January 2025
We all experience sorrow and hardships. Developing resilience is crucial for navigating life challenges, whether related to health concerns, personal relationships, or work setbacks. Although you can’t always control how you react in challenging situations, you can learn resilience to help you bounce back and overcome obstacles more quickly.
The capacity to recover from life’s setbacks is resilience. Avoiding challenging circumstances or acting as though nothing is wrong are not signs of resilience. Resilience means dealing with difficult situations by maintaining emotional and mental flexibility, a skill you can improve with practice. Building resilience is crucial because it enables you to overcome obstacles in life more efficiently, bounce back from failures, and feel better as a whole. The good news is that everyone can build resilience with adequate practice and support.
Practice acceptance
Feeling sad or frustrated during challenging circumstances and worrying about the future is expected. Although these feelings can be unsettling, they are common. Observe your thoughts and emotions without attempting to alter them or assigning a positive or negative meaning. Be mindful of your physical experiences as well. Noticing, identifying, and not judging signs of physical distress can help you accept what’s happened without having to approve it so that it can pass.
Focus on what you can control
You may feel like you fail when you think decisions are beyond your control. Recognising your capacity to alter your path and concentrating on what you can control can be empowering. Changing your viewpoint can help you become more resilient. You could, for instance, respond to a poor performance assessment by acknowledging that it doesn’t determine your future success and reinterpreting it as a chance for improvement rather than an affirmation of your failure. Another resilience approach is establishing a new objective, like finding a new career, improving personal relationships, or learning a new skill. Reaching a goal can motivate you to keep going and help you refocus on your ideals.
Connect with others
Developing resilience is a collaborative effort. Strong relationships with your family, friends, and co-workers are crucial for supporting you throughout difficult times. It takes more than simply having reliable people in our lives; it takes a true connection with them for them to help us, reframe obstacles, and validate our efforts. Furthermore, concentrating on problem-solving techniques enables you to face obstacles and come up with answers instead of feeling overwhelmed.
Get professional help
Consulting with an expert can be a practical resilience approach. A therapist can assist you in addressing the emotions and actions that are causing you discomfort and create a life characterised by your values and aspirations rather than your hardships. You may overcome obstacles and flourish in the face of adversity by developing resilience. As the New Year approaches, you could feel overburdened by the goals you set for yourself and those you previously could not accomplish. However, recognising and appreciating your accomplishments can help you assess your progress and have more understanding of how to set deadlines for your objectives and realise your personal goals.
Ref: www.lyrahealth.com www.uasa.org.za