Throughout our lives, we will all face obstacles and setbacks. There is simply no avoiding challenges and roadblocks along the way. Growing as a person and achieving our goals is not about trying to dodge these obstacles. It’s about learning how to face them with courage and deal with them head-on. That’s why learning to be resilient is so important.
What is resilience? Resilience is the drive to keep going even when life knocks you down. It means having a stoic and mature response to adversity, rather than breaking down. And it’s a response that can be developed, even if it doesn’t come naturally to you. And right now, in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, we’re all being challenged in ways that require a lot of resilience. These tips will help you build resilience to difficult and complicated emotions.
1. Take Care of Your Physical Health to Help Your Mental Health
It’s tough to stay focused on what matters and keep your chin up when you’re exhausted, hungry, dehydrated, or burnt out. That’s why prioritizing your physical health is one crucial aspect of building resilience. If you want to be resilient, you need to have a strong foundation and consider the basic building blocks of health first.
2. Be Mindful and Focus on the Present
Perhaps you’re caught between a rock and a hard place. All you can think about is what’s going to happen in the future. How bad can things get? Are you going to be okay in the long run?
Part of being resilient is focusing on what you can do to make things better right now. It involves accepting a certain level of uncertainty and understanding that positive results are not immediate.
3. Cognitive Restructuring for Positive Mental Health
Want to employ a more resilient response to a particular situation? Sometimes you need to change how you view that situation. That’s what cognitive restructuring is all about.
Cognitive restructuring means looking at a situation in a different way. For example, instead of looking at all of the negative aspects of a particular situation, you’ll shift to focusing on the positive things that could come out of it.
4. Learn From Your Mistakes
Think back to your past. How have you responded when you made a mistake? Did you own up to what you did and commit to changing your behavior in the future? Or did you try to run from what happened and brush it under the rug?
Resolving to learn from your mistakes is one method for building resilience. You’ll be better prepared to face the same situations in the future.
5. Practice Stoicism
What does it mean to be stoic? It means recognizing that you are not your emotions. Your feelings will pass by and shift with each day, but your feelings are not the core of who you are.
Conditions will change from day to day, and you’ll always have a choice in your response. But allowing changing conditions to affect your mindset and routines can be very disruptive. Being stoic means taking things as they come and considering the bigger picture when you do respond.
6. Strengthen Your Relationships
Here’s the thing about resilience; it’s tough to be genuinely resilient when you’re trying to do everything on your own. Human beings are tribal creatures. We all need the support of our loved ones from time to time. That’s why one crucial aspect of building resilience is strengthening your relationships so that when things go downhill, you have people you can turn to.
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THERAPIST COLUMBUS OHIO
Are you facing adversity and wondering if you should change the way you’ve responded to your circumstances? Do you feel like you need to build up your resilience?
Working with a qualified therapist can help you do just that. If you’re struggling with some aspect of your mental health and are looking for a compassionate team, Blue Boat Counseling offers online therapy for those living in the state of Ohio. Contact us today to schedule an appointment with one of our Columbus therapists. We’re here to help.
