Ordinary Magic - Strategies for Building Resilience in a Modern World
When it comes to being resilient, I think of the analogy that people are like a teabag, you never know how strong it is until it is dipped in hot water. Being resilient is a quality we all possess and we draw on our resilience all the time, mostly without realising it. We don't truly know the depths of our resilience until it is really tested. That said, we all want to ensure we are prepared to deal with setbacks and struggles when it is needed, a piggy-bank of personal resources to save for those times when we need a bit of grit. And this goes for our children too, we want them to be happy, healthy and not only successful but thriving as they navigate this world. How will we know if we have enough resilience to get us through the challenging times and how can we get some more?
Here are 10 ways you can keep your resilience piggy-bank topped up:
1. Understand yourself and how you react to challenges. How would you like to respond differently?
2. Build meaningful relationships - surrounding yourself with resilient people also helps us to be resilient.
3. Name your three gratitudes - At the end of each day, write down 3 good things that happened today and you are grateful for.
4. Adapt to the new situation with acceptance and a growth mindset.
5. What's your story? Learn to recognise the story you are telling yourself about the challenge and change the language to more positive, forward looking perspective.
6. Have compassion and be kind to yourself. Lower your levels of perfectionism and look at failure as an opportunity for growth.
7. Invest in your wellbeing and adopt small improvements in a healthy lifestyle, be it eating healthily, having good sleep routines, being active and doing something you enjoy.
8. Perform random acts of kindness to others. Helping others can improve resiliency by promoting feelings of happiness, peace, improving immunity and overall health.
9. Practice Mindfulness. Being mindful means paying attention to the present moment and without judgement. There are many apps you use to try out mindfulness, such as Headspace.
10. Develop emotional agility - being able to manage our emotions is one of our core resilience skills. It means having the ability to notice emotions fully, to respond to them appropriately, and to use positive emotion to build our coping skills when life is hard.
Building resilient takes practice, doing one or more of the above on a daily basis will help you to recover easily from setbacks, adapt well to change and thrive in a modern world.
Mandy Murphy is a qualified Professional Coach who helps young people and professionals to build their resilience, navigate life’s challenges and make big decisions to achieve personal success. (See advert on page 22 in the Summer Magazine)