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Building Resilience: How to Bounce Back from Setbacks
Resilience is an important life skill and one that is beneficial in both personal and professional settings. It’s the ability to cope with the challenges associated with adversity and bounce back despite obstacles and setbacks. Here, we explore what resilience is, the importance of resilience, and provide actionable tips and advice on building resilience and bouncing back.
What is Resilience?
Resilience is the capacity to adapt and cope with failure, disappointment and adversity. Building resilience allows you to develop strategies to better manage difficult situations, remain positive despite challenging circumstances, and keep moving towards your goals. People who are resilient are better equipped to face challenges, respond effectively and stay motivated.
Why is Resilience Important?
Resilience is an essential skill that enables individuals to cope with stress and difficult circumstances, stay motivated and make progress. Resilience enables you to keep on track despite setbacks, bounce back from difficult periods, and remain positive despite facing challenges. Not only does resilience equip you to stay focused and keep pushing towards success, but it also protects against burn-out and helps you stay emotionally healthy.
Tips for Developing Resilience
To develop resilience, it’s important to find balance, build inner strength, set realistic goals and be kind to yourself. Here are some top tips:
• Learn to accept failure: Recognise that failure is part of life, occuring to us all. Accepting this can put things into perspective and allow success to be framed as a learning experience.
• Examples: The first time you failed a test in high school, you may have felt like a failure, but over time, you realised you had to start studying more and try harder. You accepted the situation and paused to direct your energy into studying for the next test.
• Reframe challenges as learning experiences: When faced with difficulties, think of them as learning opportunities and take some time to reflect and assess the situation.
• Examples: A friend may have rejected an idea you had,at first you may take it personally and feel dejected. But if you look at it in a positive light, you can use this to better understand their opinion and find ways to fix your mistake or work around it.
• Take small steps: Set realistic goals and work on small achievable outcomes. When working towards a difficult period in life, breaking it down into small achievable goals can help prevent being overwhelmed or easily discouraged.
• Examples: If you set yourself the goal of developing a new skill, instead of setting a end date for when to achieve it, break your goal down into small achievable steps. This may include taking online courses or attending classes, completing assignments and asking for feedback from teachers.
• Be kind to yourself: Remind yourself of your worth and how valuable you are. Take time to award yourself credit and be kind to yourself.
• Examples: If you found yourself struggling to keep up with tasks, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, take a step back and recognise the effort you’ve put into getting where you are.
• Reach out to others: Develop a positive and supportive network of family, colleagues and friends. Reaching out is a great way to remain connected and find support when needed.
• Examples: If you’re feeling overwhelmed with an assignment, consider reaching out to the professor or colleagues who may have gone through the same experience. Hearing their advice and experiences can provide emotional support and clarity on how to take it to the next step.
Resources for Further Study and Exploration
• Harvard Business Review Article On Resilience: https://hbr.org/2015/06/being-resilient-in-uncertain-times
• Mental Health Foundation: Building Resilience https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/r/building-resilience
• Positive Psychology: Resources for Teaching and Learning Resilience https://positivepsychology.com/resources-for-teaching-learning-resilience/
• Mayo Clinic: Developing Resilience https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/resilience/art-20047971
What are some strategies for developing resilience?
1. Develop a Growth Mindset- Focus on learning and growing from mistakes and seek out new challenges that will help you build resilience.
2. Manage Stress- Take time for yourself regularly to relax and unwind. Engage in activities that you enjoy such as reading, talking to friends, listening to music, going for a walk, or meditating.
3. Create a Support Network- Connect with family and friends, join a community or support group, or find a mentor or coach who can help you through challenging situations.
4. Take Care of Your Health-Eat a nutritious diet, get plenty of sleep, and exercise regularly.
5. Practice Gratitude- Taking time to be thankful for the good in your life can increase resilience.
6. Seek Out Positive Connections – Spend time around positive, uplifting people who bring out the best in you.
7. Make Time for Fun- Do things that bring you joy and make you smile. Find time to do something you love every day.
What are the benefits of developing resilience?
1. Improved Mental Health: Building resilience can help people improve their overall mental health by making it easier to cope with stressful events and life transitions.
2. Increased Confidence: Building resilience can give people the confidence to face and overcome challenges.
3. Ability to Bounce Back: Resilience helps people bounce back from adversity more quickly, allowing them to more easily move forward with their lives.
4. Improved Relationships: Developing resilience helps people make better relationships with those around them.
5. Greater Life Satisfaction: People with high levels of resilience are generally more content with their life and more satisfied with their accomplishments.
What strategies can I use to develop resilience?
1. Take care of yourself: Manage your stress by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. Reduce stress by performing relaxation techniques like yoga and deep breathing.
2. Develop a can-do attitude: Remind yourself that you are resilient and have a “can-do” attitude that helps you to push through difficult times.
3. Maintain a sense of perspective: Stay grounded in reality by remembering that things have happened in the past and will pass.
4. Practise positive self-talk: Constructive criticism may motivate you, but make sure to also praise yourself for achievements, no matter how small.
5. Create an emotional support network: Rely on friends, family, and mental health professionals to provide emotional support when needed.
6. Develop problem-solving skills: Learn how to assess a situation, identify available options and choose the best solution to each situation.
7. Find meaning in your experiences: Find purpose and meaning in your experiences so that the difficulty of the situation can be put into perspective.
8. Engage in self-care: Take time each day to rest, relax, and focus on activities that you enjoy. This can help you build resilience and cultivate a positive outlook.
What are the benefits of developing resilience?
1. Improved mental health: Developing resilience can help to reduce stress, worry, and depression, as well as improve self-esteem and well-being.
2. Improved physical health: Resilience can help you develop a better immune system, cope better with chronic pain, and manage stress-related illnesses.
3. Improved ability to cope with change: Resilient individuals are better able to adapt to changes in their environment and are less likely to become overwhelmed when faced with difficult situations.
4. Improved problem-solving skills: Resilience helps people to think more thoroughly, weigh up different options, and come up with creative solutions to problems.
5. Improved relationships: Resilience encourages people to build strong relationships with others, as they are less likely to become overwhelmed in difficult situations.
6. Improved career success: Resilient people are often better equipped to handle higher levels of responsibility and handle difficult tasks at work.
7. Improved happiness: A resilient person is more likely to stay positive and have a more positive outlook on life.