Ways to improve mental resilience
Resilience is the ability to bounce back when things don't go as planned. According to psychologist, Susan Kobasa, there are three main elements that resilient people possess. These are challenge, commitment, and control.
The good news is that even if you're not naturally a resilient person, there are ways to grow your resilient mindset and attitude. Where you can, try to include the following methods into your day. If this is all new to you, take each one at a time to perfect and then build on.
1. Relaxation – taking time for both physical and mental relaxation helps take care of your mind, helping you become better adapt to coping with challenges in your life. Apps like Headspace offer many relaxation aids – both physically and mentally.
2. Thoughts - Resilient people don't let negative thoughts disrupt their efforts. Think about how you talk to yourself when things go wrong, are they negative, personal or insidious? Correct these thoughts in your mind.
3. Change your outlook – try to change the way you think about bad events or negative situations. Viewing the positive in them. Trust your own abilities. Keep a list of accomplishments you’re proud of to serve as a reminder of the times you’ve been resilient before. Be kind to yourself.
4. Learn from your mistakes – use each experience as a learning tool, has it enabled you to make positive changes?
5. Set aims – set personal goals, that are not only effective but also help you learn from your journey.
6. Keep perspective – those with resilience will remember that although a situation may not be ideal not to blow it out of proportion.
7. Surround yourself with strong relationships – having strong relationships in work and personally give you the strong support network to fall back on and to support you.
8. Be flexible – mentally resilient people understand things can change, that plans may need changing, they have the strength to make those changes and amendments.
9. Enhance self-confidence – mentally resilient people are confident that they will eventually succeed, whatever may come up along the way. This self-belief gives them the confidence to take risks.
10. Your reaction is always up to you – keep in mind we all have bad days/experiences; however, we have a choice in how we respond: we can choose to react with panic and negativity, or we can choose to remain calm and logical to find a solution.