What is resilience and can you build it?

You’ve probably heard the term ‘building resilience’ many times. But what does this phrase mean? How can you go about building resilience?

Let’s take a deeper look into the answers to these questions.

What is resiliency?

Resilience refers to your ability to cope with difficult situations and overcome them. We are all faced with challenges throughout our lifetimes, and how we deal with them can make a huge difference to our physical and mental health.

Sometimes people feel hopeless when faced with a difficult situation because they haven’t built up the resilience to deal with these difficulties. However, resilient people are often better able to keep their cool and take in a more positive, hands-on approach to resolve their challenging situations.

Some people seem to naturally have more resilience than others. Studies indicate that a range of personality traits can make people less likely to worry or fret in difficult situations.

Other studies indicate that resilience is determined by a range of factors, including genetics, physical fitness, mental health, social support, and upbringing.

How do you build resilience?

Luckily, there are ways to build up your resilience if you’re naturally indecisive or anxious when faced with challenges. Here are some great steps that you can take towards becoming more resilient in the future.

Shift your mindset

Your mindset plays a huge role in how resilient you are in tough situations. If you approach everything with a negative mindset, you’re less likely to find helpful solutions to your problems.

Instead of looking at the negative side to each situation or pointing the blame towards a particular person or group of people, it’s better to reframe your mindset.

Focus on the positives and view these challenges as opportunities for growth. Consider the things that you can change to improve the situation instead of focusing on those out of your control.

Manage your stress levels

Stress management is key to resilience. If you can manage the various stresses that life throws at you, you will feel more prepared for the larger, more challenging situations when they arise.

Some great stress management techniques include

• Diaphragmatic breathing
• Meditation and mindfulness practice
• Journaling
• Communicating with others
• Light exercise

Seek support from those around you

One of the best things you can do when you’re going through a tough time is to speak to those around you. Seek support from your friends and family so you can talk through your thoughts and feelings. Doing so will allow you to gain new insight into certain situations and potentially come up with solutions.

Over time, as you open up more to your loved ones, you will start to feel more confident in yourself, and your decisions will become much easier to make.