It’s not just that you have challenges, that tough times come your way, it’s how you bounce back from those challenges and difficulties that matter.
Some people have what psychologists call “resilience”, the ability to bounce back, while others seem to get stuck and sink lower when faced with challenges.
Resilience can be built and developed, and you can rebuild from difficulty in your life.
Psychologists from Harvard recommend these steps to building resilience:
Positive Emotion: attitude isn’t about what is happening, but about how you determine to look at it. Trying to find the positive, the hidden blessings and lessons in difficulties doesn’t make the problems go away, but it does help put it in context and help you bounce back quicker.
Engagement: Don’t be passive in your situation, but try to do whatever you can to make things better. Even small things, like taking care of yourself and your surroundings when you are depressed, can help you bounce back quicker.
Relationships: We need each other, never more so than when we are going through difficulty. Don’t do live alone.
Meaning: Knowing that God loves you and have has a plan for you is the most important part of making sense of difficult times. Doing things that have meaning, like serving others and giving care and compassion to those around you is super important to building resilience.
Accomplishment: Look back at things you have done in the past to give you encouragement today. Trying to get some key things done so that you can have a sense of accomplishment each day.
What are some other ways we can become healthier, more resilient people?
David Curry
