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How To Build Resilience – Be Resilient And Master Any Challenge!

 

How to build resilience and what is it even good for? In case you ever wondered what distinguishes people who sail through life’s storms, from those who are knocked down the answer is simple: Resilience!


What Means Resilience? Resilience In A Sentence

 

Resilience is our ability to respond well to challenges and setbacks, to persist in the face of failure rather than give up, to cope effectively with stress, and to recover from difficult experiences.

Building resilience is the key to turning everyday challenges into successes. This article is a concrete guide and includes the most important elements and factors one needs to build and increase resilience.

 

How To Be Resilient? What are the key factors?

 

Resilience factors are all the elements and resources that keep us healthy and in balance. They minimize the likelihood of illness and being thrown off track by life’s challenges. Typical examples of resilience factors are strong self-confidence, healthy self-esteem, regular self-care, effective stress management, and a healthy social environment.



 

What Is Challenging Our Resilience?

 

Typical factors that challenge and test our resilience are stressors, lack of self-confidence, and self-love. Difficult experiences, such as the loss of a job or a loved one, are also among them.

In order to minimize or eliminate the impact these challenges have on us it makes sense to build and continuously develop our resilience. Here are 15 building resilience worksheets and activities developed by experienced coaches and therapists.

 

Studies on Resilience – How To Be More Resilient

 

In a study on resilience and factors that protect our psychological health, Jürgen Bengel and Lisa Lyssenko explored which factors play a fundamental role in coping successfully with distress, critical life events, and trauma.

They concluded that these three factors almost always contribute to strong resilience:

 

  1. Optimism and positive emotions: The perception that the glass is half full, rather than half empty.
  2. Self-efficacy: The strong belief of being able to overcome challenges through one’s own efforts.
  3. Social environment: The knowledge of support and backing in the face of problems and challenges. The good feeling of not being alone.

 


 

How To Build Resilience – 13 Key Factors To Develop And Increase Resilience

 

In addition to the factors mentioned in the study there are more elements that contribute to a strong resilience. Some of them are included in the famous concept „7 pillars of resilience”. They are optimism, acceptance, solution orientation, breaking out of the victim mentality, a personal support network, planning for a positive future, and self-reflection. Let’s take a closer look:

 

1 – Optimism

Optimists believe that crises and challenges are only temporary and will eventually be resolved. However, optimism is more than just positive thinking and neglecting the truth.

 

2 – Acceptance and letting go

Many things that affect our lives are simply out of our control. However, it is within our control how we perceive and deal with these circumstances. Acceptance and letting go release stress and make our decisions easier.

 

3 – Focus on solutions – Become a possibility thinker

Another way to build resilience is to focus on solutions instead of problems. Try to become more creative and experiment with different possibilities and options instead of dwelling on the negative.

 

4 – Take full responsibility for your life – Let go of the victim mindset

Many people feel powerless and have some kind of victim mentality or mindset. This leads them to become passive instead of taking responsibility for the situation they are in, finding their inner strength, and taking solution-focused actions.

 

5 – Personal support network

Another factor to build and increase resilience includes building and expanding a strong and personal support network. The network could consist of our partners, friends, family members, and other people from our personal and professional life. Our network will help us to bounce back from challenges and setbacks.

 

6 – People with resilience plan for a positive future

We all have our ups and downs, but generally speaking, people with resilience know that they can shape their futures. They work consciously and actively towards their goals and a satisfying life.

 

7 – Self-reflection – How to build resilience

One key factor in building resilience is self-reflection and introspection. In addition to the mindful perception of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions, this also includes finding the answer to the question “Who am I, and what do I want in life?”.

Self-reflection can be learned with a little regular practice. It is the art of honestly and critically questioning your thoughts, feelings, and actions, drawing the right conclusions from them, and taking responsibility. Here are 11 powerful worksheets and exercises to inspire self-reflection and introspection

 

9 – Setting boundaries – Don’t be a people pleaser

Setting boundaries means standing up for yourself and your individual desires and needs. It’s essentially the process of reclaiming your freedom and taking back control. Because always doing what you think people expect from you is the safest way to become unhappy and frustrated. If your problem is saying no, you’ll find the step-by-step answer in these four worksheets.

 

9 – People with resilience have a high self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is a person’s belief that they can successfully overcome difficult situations and challenges on their own. Self-efficacy reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one’s own motivation, behavior, and abilities. A low degree of self-efficacy often keeps people from tackling tasks and taking action.

 

10 – How to be more resilient? Genuine self-confidence is another building block

Genuine self-confidence is another huge factor to become more resilient. It arises from positive experiences and the deep conviction that we are able to take on any challenge and rely on ourselves and our problem-solving skills. Here you will find 10 powerful exercises to successfully boost your own self-confidence.

 

11- Learn and practice self-care

Regular self-care is the foundation for healthy and ultimately strong resilience. It goes far beyond the occasional weekend relaxation bath and should instead become an integral part of our everyday lives. Here are 31 self-care exercises, routines, and tips to start.

 

12 – Mastering feelings and emotions

Many people are helplessly at the mercy of their emotions and even controlled by them. Others try to suppress or numb any uncomfortable feeling that might come up.

However, learning how to master your emotions and consciously use them, instead of being hijacked by them, is key to true stress resilience and ultimately fulfilling your dreams in every aspect of your life. Here are 7 powerful worksheets and exercises for emotional mastery.

 

13 – Learning Self-Love

Self-love is the complete acceptance of oneself. It means having a high regard for our own well-being and happiness. Self-love includes taking care of our own needs and desires and not sacrificing our well-being to please others.

In order to love ourselves, we must first know ourselves properly. We should be aware of our desires, values, talents, inclinations, roles, and abilities, as well as our weaknesses and flaws. All these elements can be summarized under the term self-knowledge. We must know who we are before we are able to develop true self-love. Here are 18 impactful self-love exercises and worksheets!

 

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How To Build Resilience and master any challenge in life

 

As we’ve just learned becoming and being resilient is not a one-time set-it-and-forget-it goal. Strong and healthy resilience is made up of a wide variety of factors. You may recognize two or three resilience factors in this article that you might want to improve. Take them as a starting point and continue to improve step by step.

Here are 15 resilience exercises, worksheets, and activities. Build resilience, and inner strength and learn to cope with stress. Enjoy your journey!

 

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