3 Ways Resilience Will Improve Your Life

 

Resilience is defined as a person’s ability to adapt to the events in their life. A very resilient person will be able to recover from challenging circumstances much faster and with less stress than someone with poor resilience.

As a human being, you are likely to face several exceptionally challenging circumstances throughout your life, such as losing a loved one, dealing with a substance use disorder, or facing financial uncertainty. However, if you work to build your resilience, you’ll be better prepared to face these challenges and emerge from them as a better person than you were before.

Resilience is an extremely important life skill to have, as it enables you to push forward even when things become very difficult. Being resilient also has several great benefits. Here are three main ways resilience will improve your life for the better.

1. You’ll learn how to prosper in hard times instead of merely surviving.

It’s one thing to survive a tough breakup or job loss but it’s an entirely different thing to come out of it having learned valuable life lessons and improved your life or others’. Resilient people are confident that they can make it through when life gets hard and they view their circumstances as an opportunity for personal growth. It’s easy to give in to negative emotions and thoughts, but instead, resilient people choose to maintain a positive mental outlook and work through difficult feelings.

2. You’ll protect yourself from physical and mental health problems.

Often, when faced with difficult periods of stress, people without the means to cope turn to drug or alcohol addiction, food, or unhealthy relationships to try to deal with the situation at hand. Those with well-developed resilience can ask for help when they need it, choose to feel difficult emotions instead of trying to mask them, and extend grace to themselves and others when mistakes are made. Doing these things in times of stress will help fortify your physical and mental health and enhance your overall well-being despite what’s going on around you.

3. You’ll be able to maintain balance in your life, even during extreme stress.

Having balance in life is essential to personal growth and well-being. In the event of a natural disaster or tragedy, it may be very difficult to maintain balance in your life, but maintaining a positive mental attitude, taking care of your physical and mental health, and establishing a consistent daily routine are all things resilient people do to stay balanced. As a result, they are much more likely to be calm, clear-headed, and grounded, even in the face of tragedy.

Building your resilience isn’t something that happens overnight. Like any other life skill, it will take a lot of time and effort to achieve. However, here are some of the best ways you can build resilience:

• Believe in yourself. Be kind to yourself, recognize your great qualities, and have confidence in your individual strengths.
• Stop trying to control everything. Focus on what you can control and take realistic baby steps to improve whatever situation you’re facing.
• Stay positive. Realistically reframe negative thoughts into positive ones to banish a toxic mindset that will prevent you from making progress.
• Work on your communication and problem-solving skills. Focus on communicating clearly and respectfully with others. Be creative and think outside the box to research, work with others, weigh risks, and make responsible decisions.
• Validate your feelings. Let yourself feel what you feel instead of trying to ignore or change your feelings. This is how you process and heal during difficult times.
• Ask for help. Confide in someone you trust that you are struggling. Although talking about your problems won’t make them go away, you’ll feel much better knowing you have support and you’ll be better able to cope.

When you work to build your resilience, you work to change your life, and the benefits of this life skill are far-reaching.