If you’re experiencing a difficult time with COVID-19, you’re not alone. Many people, including myself, are struggling with managing anxiety, stress, and isolation. Additionally, this time period can feel traumatic, especially if you’ve been touched at all by the pandemic. From financial worries to racial injustice, COVID-19 unearthed many uncomfortable aspects of modern day life. The situation also continues to change daily: 10.9 million global cases, 521,000 deaths. But as Psychology Today describes, resilience is going to be crucial to surviving this time period.
Resilience: The Basics
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), resilience is defined as:
the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. As much as resilience involves “bouncing back” from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth.
The organization also notes that resilience doesn’t mean that you’ll always be positive and upbeat. Even if you are a resilient person, you will still experience trauma, stress, and difficult circumstances throughout your life. However, being resilient means creating a framework through which you effectively and healthily deal with what life throws at you.
Since resilience is considered an element of personality, you can strengthen yours even if you feel like you don’t have a lot right now. This will help you build confidence, improve your physical and mental health, and reduce depression and anxiety.
The tips below come from Raise Your Resilience (RYR), a program made of 3 90-minute sessions. When tested with those living in senior housing communities, RYR helped seniors reduce stress and improve gratitude.
