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Building Resilience

re·sil·ience /rəˈzilyəns/ noun

The ability to bounce back, grow and thrive
during challenge, change and adversity.

You may be reading this knowing you desperately need to build your resilience… or maybe you are doing okay today, but know you need resilience for what’s coming in the next few weeks or months ahead.

Regardless of where you are in your life today- we all need to build our resilience because if we do not need it today, we will probably need it tomorrow.

Challenge, change, and adversity is a part of life -so building our resilience is a requirement if we want to bounce back, grow, and thrive.

YOU Without Resilience

Without resilience, we sometimes react to stressful situations (and people) with destructive habits (our auto-pilot response).

We lose perspective- and our cool.
We are forgetful.
We isolate ourselves.
We ________. (add your very own destructive, auto-pilot response here.)

We react in destructive ways because we are out of sync and our bodies are producing cortisol. Cortisol is the “fight or flight” hormone- great for cavemen and cavewomen, but bad for those of us trying to live our best life.

If your body is taking a bath in cortisol, it’s bad – emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically.

Okay…can we get to the good news already???

YOU With Resilience

When you build your resilience, you have:

  • increased energy
  • optimal performance
  • better health

… so you can bounce back, grow, and thrive no matter what life throws your way!

Resilience is when we are perfectly calm and perfectly alert.

How do I get my body (really… my autonomic nervous system) in sync- so I am perfectly calm and perfectly alert?  

Building Resilience

The first small change is to breathe.

Wait… what? Just breathe???
Yes. Just breathe.
You’re already doing it unless you are
unconsciously holding your breath with a clenched jaw.
(Busted!)

5 Steps to Build Your Resilience:

  1. Take some intentional, focused breaths – a little slower and a little deeper than usual. Try it for a minute right now. You can even set a timer so you can focus on your breathing- not the seconds. 
  2. Repeat for one minute a few times today.
  3. Notice how you feel afterward.
  4. Do it again tomorrow… and the day after tomorrow.  As you continue to practice, you may want to increase the time to 5 minutes.
  5.  In your journal, jot down how you feel before and after each session.

That’s it- the first small step.

Most likely you will immediately feel the difference in your body.  Many of our peeps tell us they feel calmer and can think more clearly right away.  Just notice.
Ask us about the science if you are the kind of person who needs proof this stuff works. 🙂

What our Clients Say…

“My boss noticed my calm demeanor in staff meetings and
the positive impact it had on everyone in the room.”

“I was able to see my co-worker’s point of view,
which was very different for me in the past.
I did not get defensive.
I listened.”

“I remembered not to respond in a judgmental way!”

“I sleep better!”

“My headaches went away.”

When should I try this?

The next time you:

  • feel overwhelmed and are not sure what to do next
  • encounter a challenging client, coworker, or family member
  • need to look at a situation from a different perspective

Just remind yourself to breathe…a little slower and a little deeper than normal
and see what happens.

Do you want to learn more about small changes to build your resilience?

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Shana Duncan, RN, Resilience Coach