Building Resilience

The most resilient people are those that are able to bounce back quickly and keep going. That doesn't mean that they're robotic in nature and shut everything off. On the contrary, they're those who have spent time building their resilience. Here are 6 ways that you can start:

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1. To build resiliency doesn't mean taking on the whole world like a one man Terminator. If you try it alone, you won't be saying "I'll be back" at all  because quite frankly, you might not be coming back for quite some time. The most resilient folks have learned that when times get tough, they need a support system to help them through. If you want to be resilient, spend time cultivating healthy relationships with family, friends, and others. If that isn't an option or you're not in a place where you feel comfortable doing that, find a trusted therapist or mentor to talk to.

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2. Find purpose in every day. Setting some clear goals can help give us purpose. James Clear talks about this in his book "Atomic Habits". He says to "start with an incredibly small habit." This means to start with something that you can't say no to. Getting in the habit of reaching these small goals helps build our ability to tackle bigger, more purposeful goals and trains us to build up our resiliency muscles to become big and strong.

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3. Always stay present and learn from the past. The past can have a way of hanging around and torturing us if we let it. What if we take the past and treat it as a learning experience in order to use it to our advantage in the present and future. Take a look at your past mistakes or hardships. What helped you get through it? What didn't? Knowing and being able to discern what works for us and doesn't can help us build a plan to be more successful through future adversities.

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4. Have a positive outlook. It's tough to continue to smile when things are really difficult, but try to look towards a brighter future and know that you are just going through a growing phase. Like we've talked about before, try to remember that the tough moments are just that, moments. They don't last and while things are difficult and time seems like it's standing still, you are being given an opportunity to grow through the process. Just hang in there and lean on point 1 to help you if you're struggling with this one.

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5. Be kind to yourself and treat yourself well. How we talk to ourselves and treat ourselves can directly affect our ability to be resilient. Do things you enjoy, try to get some sort of daily physical activity in, make quality sleep a priority, provide your body with good nutrients, and get energy from those who build you up. Try and manage your stress with some deep breathing techniques, yoga, therapy, meditation, or journaling. Being resilient starts by taking care of you.

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6. Lights, Camera, Action. How many of you have put off doing a difficult task or project? How about ignoring something that you know is going to be difficult? Yep. Just what I thought. All of us. How did you feel doing that? I'm sure you were super stressed and by doing that, it prolonged and exacerbated the severity of the stress. Take action. When sh*t hits the fan, put together a plan and get to it. It can take time to get through whatever it is, but taking action will get you moving toward getting through it instead of standing there waiting on something to happen. Nothing happens until you take action. Even if you fail, you're still getting in a habit of planning and doing and you're no worse off than if you were still standing there doing nothing. This in and of itself is a way of improving and becoming more resilient.