If nothing else, 2020 taught us about the importance of resilience. It showed us that events outside of our control could massively disrupt our lives and even put them at risk.
For many of us, this was a wake-up call. We suddenly discovered that things weren’t as certain as we thought they were. Economies could be shut down. Infectious diseases could kill people that we know. Politics could change. It tested our resilience like nothing else before it.
Resilience and wellness are actually quite closely linked to each other. It’s difficult to have one without the other. Feeling stressed and panicked all the time directly impacts wellness by increasing the levels of stress hormones in the body. And wellness affects your capacity to be resilient. If you feel sick or tired all the time, it makes it harder to face the challenges of life.
In this post, we take a look at some of the resilience strategies you can use for maximum wellness - both mental and physical. Many of these techniques are things that you can do right now to improve your situation and prepare yourself for when the world finally reopens.
Start Believing In Your Abilities
It can be challenging to believe in your abilities in a world like ours. There are a lot of extraordinarily talented people already out there. And everyone has a different perspective on what constitutes “talent,” meaning that they will evaluate you in different ways. Some people will love what you do, while others won’t. You can’t please them all.
Understanding this basic reality of life can help improve your resilience greatly. Your target should never be to impress everyone. Instead, it should be to add as much value as you can in your own unique way. Concentrate on improving the things that you can already do well. Don’t slave away trying to fix things that go against the grain.
Be Open To Change
Being open to change is another wellness strategy that can have a massive impact on your resilience levels.
Unfortunately, change is one of life’s great inevitabilities. Things never stay the same forever. People grow up and grow old. The economy shifts in new directions. Philosophies adjust.
Change, therefore, is something that we must learn to accept. If we don’t, we will forever have to battle circumstances outside of our control.
When you think about it deeply, change is actually a good thing, even when it seems bad. If you knew exactly how your life was going to pan out, it wouldn’t be as interesting or “real” to you. Safety, in many ways, is the enemy of authentic experiences. If you had total control, life wouldn’t have the same emotional content. You’d be missing out.
Stay Positive
If you’re feeling a little down after 2020, nobody will blame you. It was a rough year - and the pandemic is still rumbling on.
However, it is important to put all the events in your life into context. They seem like they matter a great deal right now, but will they still cause the same consternation in five years? Probably not.
Staying positive and being optimistic doesn’t mean ignoring problems in your life. Instead, it means understanding that no setback is ever permanent and that you can continue moving forwards.
Being optimistic also involves enjoying your life right now instead of continually chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s about being kind to yourself and taking pleasure in the simple things in life whenever you can.
Learn More About Your Health
Supporting your wellness also means learning as much as you possibly can about your health. Without a healthy body, it’s hard to have a healthy mind. The two interact with each other.
If you can, try to learn more about seasonal allergies & symptoms. Finding out what’s causing your flare-ups can have a massive impact on your quality of life.
Also, start tracking your key biomarkers using blood tests and wearable health monitors. These can tell you whether your parameters are going in the right direction or not, and what you can do to improve them.
Remember, all of us are different when it comes to health. Our genetics and environment shape how we age and change as we get older. Once you understand more about your body, you’re in a much better position to engage in the kinds of behaviors that improve your wellbeing.
Be Your Own Coach
We usually think of coaching as something another person does to us. But a lot of people learn to be their own coaches, talking themselves through stressful situations.
Self-talk can be helpful or harmful. For a lot of us, it is the latter. We ruminate about people gossiping about us at work or things our parents said on the weekend.
The trick here is to change the conversation you have with yourself to make it more positive. In many cases, you can overcome challenges and get on the path to success by talking to yourself differently.
For instance, if somebody criticizes your work, you could have a conversation with yourself about how you failed as a person. Or you could just work on improving and resolving the problem. Nothing is stopping you from gaining new skills or learning new things that could help you. You’ve done it before - and you can do it again.
Take A Hike In The Forest
While how much you exercise is important, researchers are also discovering that where you do it matters a great deal too. It turns out that location makes a difference.
Going jogging along city streets is okay, but you expose yourself to a lot of pollution and you might not run through any pleasant or attractive areas.
Researchers have found that running in the woods reduces cortisol levels and actually makes people feel better about their lives. “Forest bathing” is trendy right now because it seems to activate your body’s natural relaxation pathways. It may even help lower blood pressure and deal with mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.
Create A Goal
When a crisis hits, it can be tempting to throw your hands up in the air and assume that there’s nothing you can do to improve the situation. Resilient people, however, use these events as opportunities to create goals. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they try to view the situation objectively and then create objectives that will help them escape it.
So what does this look like on a practical level?
If you find yourself in an overwhelming situation, try brainstorming all the things that you can do right now to improve it. By thinking creatively, you’ll often find that you can lift yourself out of a bad situation and move your life forwards.
Keep Working On Your Skills, No Matter What
With the economy floundering, it can be tempting to put skill building on the backburner. You don’t have as many opportunities as you did before the crisis, so what’s the point?
The truth is that building skills is more important during a crisis than at any other time. That’s because you need to demonstrate the value you can offer. With more people unemployed, the competition for available work is hotting up. More candidates are applying for the same positions compared to when the economy was better.
If you have more time on your hands, try not to waste it. Instead, focus on ways you can improve the skills that you have at the moment so that you’re in a better position to help others when the time comes. Make sure that you continue your education, even if you’re on furlough or not currently working.
Cultivate Your Curiosity
Cultivating your curiosity is another great way to improve your mental health and resilience. The reason it is so effective is that it forces you to focus on the outside world. Being curious is all about getting to know other people and things “out there” better, instead of focusing on yourself.
Cultivating your curiosity could take a variety of forms. You could, for instance, start reading more books or take an online course. Or you might try joining different groups and societies interested in diverse topics. Whatever is it, you want to make sure that you take part in something new and different from your regular activities. Opening your mind to fresh ideas helps to keep life interesting.
In summary, resilience is a skill that you can build over time, even if your basic character predisposes you to panic and anxiety. The world can be a scary place, but there are multiple techniques that you can use to cope with it better. You don’t have to feel like life is carrying you along on a wave.
Resilient people tend to have confidence in their abilities. They also use past successes as evidence of their capacity to meet future challenges. Once resilience reaches a certain point, life ceases to feel like such a struggle and can even become enjoyable.
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