Resilience. It’s a term you hear often but may not truly understand what it means and how it could help you. Resilience simply means the ability to bounce back, to rally, and be flexible. This is a lot easier said than done, but it can make a big difference in the way you move forward after you or a loved one is injured.
We often hear about resilience as being like a blade of grass rather than an oak tree or rubber rather than steel – these simply mean focusing on the ability to bend or sway when you are carrying a heavy load or stress and not breaking or falling. This really starts with a mindset.
Getting to a point of acceptance with your situation and being able to look at the positive in your life is something anyone can practice. Think about it – many things change the way we are used to living our life, good and bad. The birth of a child, moving to a new city, an injury. In all of these situations, as the day to day changes, try looking at it differently – not good or bad. It’s about how we can make it work the best we can.
There are many things we can do to improve our ability to be resilient: getting enough exercise, having relationships with others and being social, recognizing our own strengths and weaknesses and accepting limitations, maintaining a positive outlook, eating right and getting enough sleep. These seem easy but may not be due to your or your loved one’s injury. Start by looking at each of these categories and putting some goals in place – one by one. Start with being flexible. It’s a skill that can be learned through practice.
Try some of these suggestions to work on being resilient:
Develop a way to calm or comfort yourself in a stressful situation, this can be through meditation, thinking of something that makes you laugh, or listening to music.
Try to have a positive outlook – think what someone you look up to would do in this situation, practice how to deal with difficult situations, and try to identify the positive in all situations or conflicts.
Don’t give up – be creative to solve your problems, take responsibility for your actions and recognize that some things cannot be changed.