Resilience

Resilience is a great quality to have. It’s important right now but also at any time.

It’s the ability -

• To bounce back from setbacks,

• To resist the slings and arrows of misfortune,

• To be philosophical in the face of disappointment

- all these are useful and productive qualities.

They’re also sometimes quite hard to maintain but I contend that they’re worth thinking about and working on.

I have been made redundant three times in my career - it seems like a lot however I know many others who have had the same experience. Each time I thought it was awful.  The first time I became quite ill which I think was my reaction to holding things together and becoming more and more stressed.  But each time, it turned out to be a huge boost for me and I went on to bigger and better things. Most recently the organisation I had been working for went into liquidation which was very distressing to all the staff and our patients. I have to admit that it’s taken me quite a while to feel as though I can come back from this one – but I know I will!

So believe that there is life after redundancy - you will survive and things will get better!

I recommend that everyone consider their resilience and how they might support its development -  chances are you will need it at some point!

There are Six Pillars of Resilience – six areas of life that you need to pay attention to if you want to become more resilient.

• Diet - make sure you eat well. Eating the right foods can help you function better. The latest evidence is that a good diet should be based on the “Mediterranean” diet consisting of mostly plant based i.e., vegetables and fruit, with red meat & chicken – 1x each week, oily fish – 2x times each week, eggs, beans and red/brown rice, nuts and seeds, avocado, olive oil and full fat dairy, prebiotic and probiotic foods, such Kombucha, Kefir, sauerkraut, seaweed, yoghurt etc.  A good diet will help the body produce serotonin, an important neurotransmitter, which enhances memory and thinking skills. In particular it’s strongly recommended that you avoid ultra-processed food.  I recall reading one nutritionist who said “Ask yourself – would your grandmother recognise this as food? If she wouldn’t, then don’t eat it!”

• Exercise is really good for you - it significantly improves cardiovascular fitness, improves blood vessel function and markers of blood vessel health, lowers insulin resistance, leads to increased weight loss and is beneficial to cognitive control and working memory capacity. It doesn’t have to take long but the benefits are really worth it.

• Positive thinking is also very good for you. Strengthen your memory for positive information and your brain's ability to work with positive information. Strengthen your brain's ability to pay attention to the positive and condition yourself to experience random moments of positivity. Practice gratitude! Savour the good moments and generate positive emotions by doing fun stuff! Stop minimizing your successes and stop all-or-nothing thinking!

• Breathing - The way you breathe has a powerful impact on your energy via your nervous system. Diaphragmatic (or deep) breathing reduces stress and anxiety. Breathing slowly and mindfully activates the hypothalamus, connected to the pituitary gland in the brain, to send out neuro hormones that inhibit stress-producing hormones and trigger a relaxation response in the body.

• Sleep - We do it every night! We spend approximately a third of our time doing it! Doctors and scientists are really just beginning to understand all the important ways that sleep affects our health and well-being — and all of the reasons we do it. The bottom line is that we need sleep to function. So stick to a sleep schedule of the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. Your bedroom should be cool – between 16-18 degrees, free from any noise, free from any light. Make sure you sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows. Avoid bright light in the evening and expose yourself to sunlight in the morning. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and heavy meals in the evening. Your body needs time to shift into sleep mode, so spend the last hour before bed doing a calming activity such as reading. Avoid electronic devices before bed or in the middle of the night.

• Mindfulness - “Mindfulness" is a non-judgmental, moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. there is good evidence that practicing mindfulness can really help reduce stress.

Want to know more? I run a webinar on this topic. Contact me to find out more!