The Role of Resilience in Your Life

Kristie Overstreet Ph.D., LPCC, LMHC, LPC, CST

Resilience is one of the most powerful tools a person can have when it comes to mental health. You aren’t born with it, but you can develop it.

Resilience is the ability to adapt to change. Think of it like a rubber band, which snaps back when you stretch it. Resilience is a set of behaviors, actions, and thought processes that can help you deal with changes in life.

You don’t have a lot of control over what happens to you. However, you can develop your ability to bounce back. The following will help you better understand the role of resilience.

 What areas can resilience help?

Improving your resilience now can help you heal from the past as well as prepare for future issues you may face. Here are a few areas that affect your mental health that being resilient can improve.

  • Job loss, change, or demotion
  • Death of a loved one or pet
  • Medical or mental health diagnosis
  • Break up of a relationship or divorce
  • Emotional, physical, verbal, or sexual trauma
  • Loss of finances or monetary support
  • Personal growth
  • Natural disasters

 

How to improve your resilience?

Since resilience isn’t an inherited trait but a learned action, there are many things you can do to improve it. Choose a few of the following tips to help you foster resilience.

  • Practice positive self-talk
  • Improve your confidence and self-esteem
  • Identify your strengths
  • Give yourself credit when you do good
  • Make a list of all of your accomplishments
  • Practice self-care
  • Accept that the only thing constant is that things will change
  • Ask your support system to share what good things they see in you

 

Your mental and emotional health can improve when you harness the power of resilience. With these improvements, you will see other areas of your life enhanced such as personal relationships, career, and friendships. Don’t underestimate the benefits of acknowledging and embracing your resilience. Its role in your life can help you overcome and heal from whatever life brings your way.