Ways to Increase Resilience; In the literature, resilience is one of the most important life skills for maintaining mental health while going through stressful and challenging times. Psychological resilience, which in its most succinct definition means being able to persevere in the face of difficulties and recover quickly, is a characteristic that we all need to develop in times when we experience both individual, social and global troubles, and that it is important for people of all ages to gain.
Although a series of negative events we have experienced recently, the anxiety we are exposed to and the rising stress level have caused many of us to lose hope in life, it is more important than ever to take control and continue the fight. By increasing our psychological resilience, we can support our productivity and creativity, have a more realistic and less fearful view of the future, learn to manage challenging emotions, control our reactions, increase our self-confidence, and eventually, if not immediately, in times of distress. We can be sure that we will find a solution.
Although there is no way to eliminate or completely eliminate the sadness, distress, pain or negativities that are inseparable parts of life; There are various ways to deal with changes, losses, and feelings that don’t feel good by increasing resilience.
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Ways to Increase Resilience
1. Accept
Ways to Increase Resilience; While we all react to stressful events in different ways, many of us try to protect ourselves by refusing to accept the reality of what is happening. Denial may seem helpful at first to cope with the shock of a traumatic event, but later it will hurt the healing process. Therefore, it is necessary to accept negative situations and the emotions they create, only in this way can we increase our resilience.
Do Not Resist Change:
If you have trouble accepting a situation that has happened, remembering the past can help you embrace change. Think about it, you have faced uncertainties, unexpected and unwanted situations before, but you managed to cope. You can do the same again. Remembering your past can help you feel confident that you can overcome the current negative situation again.
Focus on What You Can Control:
Change is an inevitable part of life, and most changes happen outside of our control. Therefore, focusing on what we cannot control only wears us out and consumes our energy. On the other hand, acknowledging the situation helps to shift our perspective only to what is within our control, to our own reactions.
Don’t Suppress Your Emotions:
You may think that the best way to get through difficult times is to ignore or suppress painful emotions. However, if we don’t allow our emotions to surface, we increase our exposure to anxiety and stress. To increase our resilience, we must allow ourselves to feel our emotions and deal with them by confronting them. Remember, no emotion lasts forever. Even the toughest feelings have an expiration date.
2. Communicate with Others
Connecting with friends and family through tough times helps relieve stress and elevate your mood. We all need strength from others as we face certain problems. We want to be listened to, to be understood, to communicate without being judged. Sometimes a word, a smile can help us get away from our troubles and make us stand stronger.
Prioritize Your Relationships:
While many studies emphasize that healthy relationships support our holistic well-being, sheltering our loved ones who will increase our strength and support us in difficult times plays an important role. No matter how hard the conditions are, don’t forget to give importance to your relationships and get together with your loved ones who make you feel good, whether face-to-face or online. Knowing that you are not alone will make your struggle with life easier.
Do Not Pull Yourself Back:
Many of us may tend to withdraw into our shells when faced with difficulties in our lives. Or we may think that we will be a burden to our loved ones. However, the right thing is not to shut ourselves down, but to surround ourselves with our loved ones. Take yourself to places where you can feel the atmosphere of trust and love, instead of capturing yourself inside your mind in difficult times.
Stay Away From Toxic People:
It is very important to stay away from toxic people who are not good for us, as well as being close to our loved ones, both when going through difficult times and going through the normal flow of life. Take care to stay away from people who stress you more, damage your power, and make you feel bad.
Expand Your Social Network:
Although our current relationships support us in getting through difficult times, always opening ourselves to the outside world and creating space for new friendships is one of the enjoyable ways to strengthen our support network and increase our psychological resilience. Get out of your comfort zone and give it a chance to meet new people.
3. Take Care of Yourself
Going through tough times can be mentally as well as physically exhausting. And especially when under high stress, many health problems can follow that fatigue, because stress can damage the digestive system, especially the immune system. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to personal care practices that will support our holistic health in order to increase our resilience.
Exercise Regularly:
When dealing with stress, you probably carry it somewhere in your body; maybe your muscles will be tense, maybe you will have a headache or a stomachache. Exercising regularly not only releases powerful endorphins in the brain to improve your mood, it also helps relieve tension in the body and cope with the physical symptoms of stress.
Sleep Well:
While we are going through difficult times, negative thoughts and stress in our minds can disturb our sleep. However, not getting enough sleep can cause a variety of physical and mental health problems. For this reason, you need to take care of getting enough sleep by relaxing your body and mind. Relaxing incense, air fresheners, candles or sleeping sprays can help you fall asleep.
Establish the Mind-Body Connection:
The mind and body are not separate from each other; It has been proven by many studies that the two are a whole. That’s why it’s so important to establish a healthy bond between the two. With exercises that relax both the body and mind, such as meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi, you can increase your resilience and support your emotional and physical well-being while getting through tough times.
Eat Healthy:
There is no magic food that increases resilience. However, since a healthy and regular diet contributes to improving both physical and mental health, it helps us stay stronger, especially when going through difficult times. Don’t forget to include rich sources of fat and protein-rich foods in your meals.
4. Continue Your Search for Meaning and Purpose
While we try to deal with difficult emotions and bad situations, many of us feel that we have lost our search for meaning and purpose in life, and this can make things even more difficult. However, with a little change of perspective and effort, we can preserve our identity in life and continue our search for purpose and meaning. Everyone has different ways of experiencing purpose and meaning, but two ways can guide us all:
Help Others:
While it is common for us to feel powerless or helpless when going through a challenging time, one way to overcome this is to help others, regain a sense of control and set new goals. Volunteer, donate, support those in need, and you will see that your self-confidence will increase, you will feel stronger and you can enjoy causing a big smile on the faces of others.
Follow Your Interests:
In turbulent times, it is very important not to set aside your soul-feeding interests. For most of us, the things that define us as individuals and add meaning to our lives are our hobbies that we are interested in, that we love, that are good for us, that we enjoy doing. Music, art, sports, everything we enjoy can help build our resilience in difficult times.
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5. Stay Motivated
Patience, perseverance and endurance are among the most critical parts of coping with and getting through difficult times. No emotion, no trouble lasts forever; but it doesn’t end quickly. Finding ways to stay motivated through dark times can make the light at the end of the road more visible.
Split the Problems:
If a problem is too big to be tackled at once, breaking it down into smaller, more manageable chunks is an effective method. In this way, it can be easier to overcome difficult times and to overcome them, albeit with small steps. As you complete each step, that is, find the solution to each small problem, you can improve your motivation and increase your resilience.
Celebrate Your Achievements:
In order to stay motivated and positive while navigating the stormy seas of life, it is necessary to appreciate the small achievements. Even if you haven’t achieved that big thing you want to achieve, remember that even the smallest achievements on the way to it are worth celebrating. Thus, you can always keep your motivation fresh and increase your strength.
Don’t Lose Hope:
It’s hard to stay hopeful in challenging times; but hope is needed just in times like these. By strengthening your belief that bad times will pass, you can move forward with more solid steps.
Be thankful:
Think about the reasons you can be grateful for, your loved ones in life, the bright dream of the future, everything that makes you feel good and changes your perspective to a positive one, and remind yourself how lucky you are to have what you have.
Be Kind To Yourself:
Regardless of the circumstances, it is important for a person to take good care of himself, to benefit from self-love and self-compassion practices, and to try to let himself go with the flow by not resisting change.
