Resilience is just another psychological concept that often casually comes up in conversations with colleagues, friends, and family and very often in therapy. What is not often mentioned is that resilience is a dynamic skill that is constantly changing and mastered with experiences.

So, what is resilience? Resilience is a psychological concept that refers to an individual’s ability to adapt and bounce back in challenging, adverse, or stressful situations. The reality of human life and experience is that time, and again we face setbacks, whether personal, professional, or circumstantial. In such moments, resilience is our tool, allowing us to care for our mental well-being whilst coping with difficult circumstances healthily. Resilience is not escaping difficult situations but navigating through these experiences effectively.

How you develop resilience is unique to your perception and experience of challenging situations. However, there are a few key characteristics that shape us with resilience.

-Positive/GROWTH mindset: We’ve all read books and heard from the people around us to be “positive”. But has that ever been enough? For example, if you recently lost your dream job, while there may be some positives in a wider perspective, you couldn’t possibly be looking for the positive in this situation. In moments like these, maintaining a growth mindset with optimism, hope, and positivity helps maintain a sense of self and well-being.

-Adapt and Maneuver: Adapting and adjusting to changing circumstances helps us learn new ways of coping, problem-solving, and navigating challenges, even in the face of adversity.

-Give yourself the permission to feel: We live in an overwhelming environment with constant sources of pressure that make us want to be “perfect”. However, what helps is embracing the emotions that come with adversity. When we give ourselves permission to feel and express our emotions, we learn what our emotions are truly communicating to us and how to manage them in a constructive manner.

-Count on your tribe: As humans, one of our most important sources of support is our fellow humans in challenging moments; our friends, family, and other such social relationships lift us up but also help create a sense of belonging. Very often, people tend to isolate and shut themselves down when experiencing difficult situations. However, in sharing your experience with someone you trust, you may also learn that there are many people out there with their own challenges and something that may have helped them may help you too.

-“I” am great: Most importantly, having a healthy sense of self and believe in our own abilities to overcome the different hurdles that life presents us with to achieve our ultimate goal—having confidence in our skills, strengths, and capabilities.

With every challenging or difficult situation that life throws, resilience may manifest differently for different people. What is key here is to master these skills with experience.

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