No matter what the source, a crisis is a great opportunity for us to build resilience, strength of character, empathy and resolve. Emotional resilience can be learnt, and benefits of continuous development can be reaped. Personal growth due to adversity involves using tools and strategies that provide a greater insight on how we manage the crisis.
Understanding why you feel upset, overwhelmed, immobilized or vulnerable can lead to self-awareness, which in turn will enable you to identify about what you need to change. Gaining resilience helps to turn challenges upside down and respond accordingly with well-thought-out actions rather than resorting to blame, loathing or self-pity.
It is, however, not always easy to feel strong when dealing with challenging issues. That being said, an important step to becoming more resilient is to feel positive about yourself. Learning to treat these hurdles as an opportunity to evolve, grow and emerge stronger and wiser forms the essence of improving your sense of self.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Maintain a Diary
Keeping a diary of your emotions and listing down the challenges that you face can help you to explore feelings and formulate a plan of action. To be able to handle critical situations with confidence can make you stronger and enable you to emerge from each crisis feeling resilient and much more in control, both emotionally and physically. Remaining connected with friends and family and rallying social support can help share the load and keep a balanced perspective.
Seek Professional Help
By seeking help from professional therapists, you can devise individual solutions and strategies and discover new tools to develop resilience. A professional therapist can coax you towards optimistic thinking and bolster your confidence, which in turn would enable you to face and learn from adversity and turn potentially negative events into positive experiences. Research has also shown that being spiritually connected can boost inner resilience.
Develop Spirituality
Being spiritually connected helps you to find meaning, purpose, hope, comfort and inner peace. Spirituality plays an important role as a motivating and harmonizing force and provides an essential dimension to an individual’s quality of life. Spirituality helps us to ascertain what is sacred in our lives, and balance values, beliefs, attitudes and actions in response to the things we deem important. Those who work towards a higher level of spirituality often experience greater peace of mind and remain calm in the face of potential stressors that are inevitable in a life full of challenges.
Contrary to the common myth, spirituality does not mean being religious. You can be spiritual without being a part of any religion. Spirituality generally relates to better mental health and is much more of an individual practice, a way of gaining perspective, and recognizing that “your worth” is pegged higher than what you do each day.
There are various ways to develop spirituality; what you must remember is that spirituality relates more to discovering your inner self personal and attaching a deeper meaning to individual purpose. It is, therefore, important to find a source of spiritual activity that best suits your needs and interests.
Spiritual activities include yoga, meditation, praying, mantras/affirmations, witting a reflective journal, listening to or reading spiritual materials i.e., podcasts and books. Alternative spiritual activities include positive connections with family and community, nature walks and simply doing something that you enjoy. Connecting with nature is an easy, accessible and enjoyable way to develop your spirituality. Inhaling the air outside, noticing the changing of the seasons, touching a tree or plant, listening to the birds, or even cuddling your pet are ways to connect with nature.
Be Grateful
Developing a sense of gratitude is a great way to nourish your spirituality and to identify the positive aspects of your life. Even when the situation seems particularly dark and dreary, try to find three things that you are grateful for. Doing this every day engenders the ‘attitude of gratitude’ and is sure to have a positive impact on your mood.