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The Art Of Resilience

8 August 2018

Life is tough. Full of surprises. And currently warm summer weather. Maybe not all surprises are bad ones!

Sunshine is great for vitamin D production and over the dark winter months it’s a fair bet that most of us are deficient in the big D in some way.

Now the sun is out and beaming down on us we are getting a good dose of an essential vitamin.

I mention this because colds and flu tend to strike when our levels are lowest, which is why generally we have fewer sniffles in the summer. If we don’t like being out in the sun we can get a special lamp to achieve the same effect. And we can know that an afternoon in the garden is boosting our resilience.

I think of resilience as our ability to keep going and to bounce back when we hit turbulence. It’s hard to teach as a specific item, but we can sidle up to it and give ourselves a shove in the right direction.

I think of myself as a fairly resilient sort of person and along the way I’ve learned a few things, that I use all the time to support myself.

Here are a few of my favourites…

1. Ask for help. This can be so hard to do, I know, and yet if we take a deep breath and reach out to two people we will often be surprised at what happens next. Two supporters are better than one and also minimises the risk of one person being too busy for us right now.

2. Have a physical activity in our life. Lots of people go running and that works for them. Personally I prefer some gentle yoga because all you need is a mat and a YouTube video and, most importantly, it spares us the horror of seeing Mamils (middle aged men in Lyrca shorts). We can also do it come rain or snow.

3. Play music. Switch on the radio, dust off our favourite vinyl disc, or plug in the electric guitar and crank up the volume to 11. Singing and dancing are a great way to release positive endorphins and who cares how out of tune we are? We are happy and that’s what counts.

4. Have a plan. Often we do better when we have a longer time horizon to focus on. Problems today seem more digestible if we know we will resolve them by this time next year. Not having a plan can lead to poor short-term decison making.

5. Eat and sleep. Putting good quality fuel into our tank helps our energy. Swap pizza for green veg, and carb heavy diets for lighter options. Sleep can be tricky and yet a herbal tisane (special tea type mix) can really work well. I know, I have a bag of this magic potion and make a cup when I need to relax late at night.

6. Remember our journey so far. As grown ups it’s easy to be stuck, in a flap, in the moment. Yet as kids we often had similar tough times, whether exams, or house moves, or family upset. We survived those and we can know that we will survive the current problem. Pause here and take a moment to rememebr how fabulous you are! (Yes you!)

7. Focus on small wins. Our longer term plan is wonderful for giving us a guiding path. However, on a daily basis it can boost our resilience to give ourselves a pat on the back for simple achievements. Perhaps getting to work on time, or making a choice to go to be early instead of polishing the skirting board.

Resilience is an art. We need to be artful and creative and we can design solutions for ourselves and ignore people who stand in our way.

We can be the wonderful and resilient person that our good friends and supporters know we are!

Next week: Space …The Essential Frontier!