Developing resilience is a personal journey. We do not all react in the same way to traumatic and stressful events; an approach to building resilience that works for you might not work for another.

By exploring your answers to the following questions about yourself and your reactions to challenging life events, discover how you respond to difficult situations in your life:

    • What kinds of events have been most stressful for me?
    • How have those events typically affected me?
    • Have I found it helpful to think of important people in my life when I am distressed?
    • To whom have I reached out for support in working through a traumatic or stressful experience?
    • What have I learned about myself and my interactions with others during difficult times?
    • Has it been helpful for me to assist someone else going through a similar experience?
    • Have I been able to overcome obstacles and, if so, how?
    • What has helped make me feel more hopeful about the future?

Resilience involves maintaining flexibility and balance in your life as you deal with stressful circumstances and traumatic events. For instance, do you:

    • Allow yourself to acknowledge and experience strong emotions?
    • Know when to control your emotions in order to continue functioning?
    • Deal with your problems while meeting the demands of daily living?
    • Take time to rest and gain perspective?
    • Spend time with loved ones to gain support and encouragement?
    • Nurture a positive view of yourself and believe in your abilities?
    • Rely on others as well as yourself?
    • Have a sense of purpose in your life?
    • Have caring, supporting people around you?
    • Accept that change is a part of living?
    • Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems?
    • Take decisive actions or wish that problems would just go away?
    • Maintain an optimistic outlook?
    • Take care of yourself?

The secret is to identify ways that are likely to work well for you as part of your own personal approach to developing resilience.

Sources
http://psychology.about.com
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience

Written by LifeAssist