Resilience is the ability to bounce back from difficult circumstances, and it is a necessary component of a well-adjusted life. If that’s something you struggle with, then it can be exhausting figuring out how to build your resilience up from scratch. Building resilience takes time, effort, and patience. It’s not something that happens overnight. But by incorporating these tips into your daily life, you’ll be on your way to becoming more resilient and better able to handle the challenges that come your way.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
–Joseph Campbell
Learn How to Self-Soothe
Children rely on the people around them to handle their emotions. Seeing a crying child run into the arms of their parents makes sense to us because we’ve seen that sort of scene play out countless times throughout our life. In order to be a reasonably collected adult, we have to know how to comfort the crying child within.
- Take care of your physical health. One of the simplest and most powerful ways to Self-Soothe is by performing your acts of daily living, such as brushing your teeth, eating three meals a day, and exercising regularly.
- Take care of your mental health. When we’re in the throes of emotional anguish, it isn’t easy to devise a mental health care plan on the spot. That’s why in order to address your own mental health, you need to have a toolkit.
- Follow your fiery passion. There’s a reason that tortured artists endure their torturous emotions. It’s because they are intensely passionate about their art. Find what you’re passionate about, and make room for it in your life. No matter how grim things might appear, your passion can be the light in the darkness.
Cultivate A Positive Mindset
Having a sense of optimism can be a powerful coping tool. But optimism doesn’t come from anywhere. In order to interpret the world around you charitably, it becomes almost necessary to cultivate a positive mindset.
- Practice gratitude. Regularly speak, write, and think about what you’re grateful for. Don’t take the good in your life for granted.
- Reframe your negative thoughts. Recognize your unhelpful thoughts, and try to replace them with a more charitable interpretation of the situation. Don’t let the gloom in your life become a wallowing sort of place.
- Surround yourself with support. Reach out to your loved ones for help. Help them understand what you’re going through, and how you’d like to be supported.
Be Open To Change
The truth is, the biggest obstacle in the way of our personal growth is ourselves. You are the only person who can make meaningful changes in your adult life. But that means being open to new experiences and embracing your opportunities to learn and grow.
- Don’t beat yourself up. Often when we make an error, we engage in negative self-talk like calling ourselves insults so that we “learn the lesson”, but this negative self-talk doesn’t really help us grow. If we focus on how we could be better instead of where we’ve failed, we’re more motivated to make a change.
- Be flexible. An excellent way to be resilient is through adapting to your environment. You might be the only thing in your life that is fully within your control, but that’s quite a lot of control if you think about it.
- Try new things. Having a routine is great. Many of the tips within this very article boil down to just the pure value of having a solid routine. But staying forever within those routines can be a mind-numbing resilience killer. Put yourself out there, and experience the novelty of doing something different.
