Resilience has a great impact on our ability to be stable, to be balanced and strong mentally while dealing with difficult events. With so much uncertainty and stress in the world today, it is imperative for individuals to have the skill of resilience whether experiencing their own personal struggles, financial issues or unforeseen changes in life to help maintain their composure and clarity.
Many organizations around the globe, including World Health Organization (WHO) and American Psychological Association (APA) acknowledge and highlight the importance of mental well being and state that resilience is not something you are just born with. It is a skill that can be developed and nurtured through practice.
Overview of Emotional Resilience
This guide will provide an overview of emotional resilience by looking at the various characteristics of resilience, how to define each characteristic, and how to develop them within yourself in order to effectively deal with difficult circumstances. Each section will break the defining characteristics of resilience down into smaller identifiable pieces that can then be utilized together as tools to provide you with a thorough understanding without being overly complicated.
Definitions
Resilient people process their difficulties through critical thinking, as opposed to being consumed with overspending or misstepping. The topic of resiliency has received a great deal of attention over the last several years due to increased pressure in the workplace, economic uncertainty and the rapid pace of technological change.
People who demonstrate resiliency by managing challenges effectively typically go on to make sound decisions under pressure and have consistently better emotional stability than do those who do not exhibit resiliency. Resilient individuals are still subject to life difficulties, but they tend to respond to those challenges differently than do individuals who lack resiliency.
The Characteristics of Emotionally Resilient Individuals
There are several similarities between those who exhibit characteristics of emotional resilience and how successfully they manage to cope with adversity. Emotional resilience characteristics are not permanent characteristics; they can develop through an individual’s conscious practice and view of the world.
Core Abilities
- The ability to understand and manage their emotions
- The ability to remain calm under pressure
Understanding Stress and Recovery from Stress
The amygdala and prefrontal cortex of the brain handle the processing of stress; one is responsible for creating emotions, while the other helps control those emotions. Recovery through proper rest will promote restoration of emotional balance and cognitive clarity.
Recovery Benefits
- Restoration of emotional balance
- Cognitive clarity
- Decreased build-up of stress over time
Mental Foundation
The mental foundation of an individual is the basis from which emotional resilience develops. The psychological study conducted at the University of Oxford has found that mindset is a significant factor in determining how individuals will emotionally react to stressful situations.
Individuals with a strong mental foundation are more likely to deal with problems using a thinking and rational mind rather than a fear-based reaction. This creates a stable approach toward managing challenges effectively.
The Importance of Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is an understanding of one’s emotions, triggers, and behaviors. Recognizing stress early, so you can deal with it in a way that is not an impulsive reaction.
Focus Area
- Concentrate on the facts and not your assumptions.
Daily Habits and Emotional Strength
The role of daily habits in creating emotional resilience is very important because the way we have daily habits shapes our response to stress over time. When you take small repeated actions that are the same each day, you are creating a stable existence, even when you do not know what is going to happen in your external environment.
Rather than relying on motivation from time to time, daily habits create a structure that supports your emotional balance. This structure reduces the amount of mental overload and creates an environment in which you can stay focused during a challenge.
Research at University College London shows that a habit becomes a habit through repetition and as it becomes a habit it requires less mental effort when we engage in it, allowing the energy that would normally be used by our brains to engage in complex thinking. It is particularly crucial during periods of high stress when decision-making fatigue may become a prevalent concern.
An established daily routine decreases levels of unpredictability and therefore minimizes the anxiety that is often a result thereof. An established routine allows people to become mentally ready to confront unexpected events.
Routine Impact
Through repetition, the updating of routines enhances emotional regulation and builds overall stability. By providing structure and predictability for oneself, one creates a level of predictability and emotional regulation.
Long-Term Effect
Continued practice of these routines increases emotional regulation because one’s brain builds automatic responses through established patterns.
The Power of Small Daily Actions
Small actions may not seem like they can change one’s emotional resilience long term, however, when done consistently, they can have a huge cumulative effect on building a strong emotional foundation.
Examples
- Short breaks to refocus oneself
- Regularly participated in physical movements
- Clearly established priorities for the day.
The results of the research conducted at Johns Hopkins University demonstrate that small repetitive behaviors compound upon each other to create a positive effect on mental well-being. As time goes on, the habits you’ve formed will strengthen your mental resilience.
How To Manage Negative Thoughts Successfully
Negative thoughts are a natural part of life, especially when faced with challenging situations; however, the way that one reacts to these negative thoughts is more important than the actual negative thought itself. If you allow your negative thinking to cloud the way you react to life, those thoughts can lead to increased stress or reduced ability to think clearly.
According to Cognitive Research performed at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, thoughts are the primary way that emotions are expressed and how all of your actions are taken.
How To Recognize Thought Patterns
The first thing that you need to do in order to effectively manage your negative thoughts is identify those thoughts. Recognizing patterns is the foundation for improving mental clarity.
How To Reframe And Create Mental Clarity
Re-framing is examining a situation from a more balanced, realistic or rational perspective. It does not ignore the challenges or obstacles you are experiencing but places those challenges or obstacles into a larger context.
Re-framing results in the reduction of the emotional intensity of a particular situation as well as providing for a more clear way of thinking about that situation. Separating your emotions from the objective reality of the situation improves clarity.
According to research conducted at King’s College London, the use of re-framing techniques improves emotional stability and ability to make good decisions.
Types of Support Networks
Numerous forms of support exist within social support networks, and each type will provide a unique type of support or assistance. Emotional support is characterized by empathy and understanding; informational support is characterized by the provision of information and guidance; and practical support involves providing assistance to others to accomplish daily responsibilities and activities.
Creating a comprehensive support network involves the inclusion of various types of support, as diversity of support increases the likelihood that an individual will have access to the type of support they require in the future.
Strengthening Support Network Relationships
- Continued consistency to build trust
- Provide mutual support
- Have respect for differences or boundaries
Research conducted at Harvard Medical School has shown a strong correlation between quality of social connections and degree of emotional resilience. These types of support help provide a buffer to cope with stress and anxiety.
Ability to Adapt to Change and Uncertainty
It’s a reality of life that we will all encounter some form of change and uncertainty. Understanding how to deal with it is essential for emotional resilience.
Understanding Uncertainty and Control
The uncertainty of life is often stressful for us due to the fact that all of our minds desire and prefer things to be predictable or to have a definite outcome. This creates internal tension when outcomes are unclear.
Creating a Flexible Thinking Style
A flexible thinking style helps individuals alter how they approach situations when the circumstances have changed. It allows for better adaptability and emotional control.
Ways
- Being receptive to other ways to view an outcome
- Adjusting expectations if necessary
- Avoiding rigid styles of thinking
- Responding only to what the current reality is
Research at Stanford University has found that individuals who approach challenges in an adaptive manner will be able to develop enhanced problem-solving ability and increased emotional awareness.
Growth Through Experience
Every experience that results in greater knowledge helps one to have a more considerable understanding of strengths and weaknesses. By developing this level of awareness, an individual can develop balanced approaches to future hardship by drawing on the knowledge learned during the previous experience.
Growth through challenging situations is not an automatic process. It involves reflecting on the situation, being willing to be patient and have the capacity to learn from the experience.
Difficult Experiences Can Teach Us About Ourselves
Difficult experiences can give us insight into how we think, feel and respond to pressure. By looking back at these experiences, we can see how we respond to stress now, and can find the ways that will affect our ability to be resilient in the future.
By knowing what we have gone through in the past, we can also acknowledge our progress in overcoming those challenges to continue working toward developing our ability to manage uncertainty and respond to it successfully.
Developing Emotional Endurance Over Time
The development of emotional endurance occurs overtime due to the repetitive nature of exposure to problems. This progression helps to develop greater capability for managing stress, and for remaining stable.
Key Points
- Through past experience
- Recognizing progress
- Learning from failure
- Having a long term outlook
Research done at the University of Cambridge has shown that individuals who develop emotional endurance have a greater potential to deal with prolonged stress and uncertainty.
Conclusion
Emotional resilience is not a one-time characteristic but rather an evolving set of skills that are developed through awareness of what is going on around us, the behaviours that we exhibit, and the experiences that we encounter. As organizations such as The World Economic Forum point out, having the ability to adapt, manage your stress, and remain emotionally balanced is becoming increasingly important in today’s society.
Throughout this guide we have covered the five key elements all of which can contribute to having an incredibly solid emotional foundation for managing challenges effectively without becoming overwhelmed. Those five areas are Daily habits, Thought Management, Support Systems, Adaptability and Long-Term Growth.
Understanding these principles will help individuals maintain clarity of thought and be able to respond appropriately during uncertain times. Emotional resilience continues to be the most important aspect of how individuals will manage their personal lives as well as managing their professional lives in an ever-evolving world.