SUSTAINED RESILIENCY
You’ll know when you have resilience when something bad, tragic, or unexpected happens and it does not take you out. It doesn’t break you. But resilience is not just about recovery. It is more about what you do after you recover.
Resilience is your ability to become stronger, healthier, or more successful in spite of the events that should have taken you out.
That situation put a dent in your heart, your health, your life, your finances. It took a piece of you! A big piece. Something is missing! Something is gone from you. You are not the same as before. That situation took away trust, peace, love, hope.
How can I possibly recover? You might say. How can I get it back? I can’t even imagine increasing!
Simply put, WE WILL, because WE MUST.
Our road does not end here!
Think of it this way…that situation thought it had silenced you. You were over and done with, by those standards. BUT, we bounced back and we Re Silenced It! We were Re Silient! We shut the situation up instead of it shutting us up.
The sweetest revenge one could ever offer is prosperity. When they see you prosper when you were left for dead. Oh, how sweet it is! We bounced back, up, and over that situation and circumstance.
WE BEAT THE ODDS!
That is a feeling that we can have after every adversity. But it is going to take work. Here is what we must do, in order to sustain resiliency. During times of stress or adversity, our body goes through a number of changes designed to make us faster, stronger, more alert, more capable versions of ourselves.
Our heart rate increases, blood pressure goes up, and the adrenaline flows through our body. This is why the initial impact of a situation doesn’t take us out. We have a surge of built-in resistance in our storage capacity for initial contact. Everyone will experience twists and turns, from everyday challenges to traumatic events with more lasting impact, like the death of a loved one, a life-altering accident, or a serious illness.
Each life change affects people differently, bringing a unique flood of thoughts, strong emotions and uncertainty.
Yet people generally adapt well over time to life-changing situations and stressful situations—in part thanks to resilience.
Becoming more resilient not only helps you get through difficult circumstances, it also empowers you to grow and even improve your life along the way.
Sustained Resilience involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that anyone can learn and develop. It is like building up muscle.
Here are some tips that I am using:
I try and focus on what IS left. Whether it is pleasant memories of days gone by, or other people or items. Focusing forward helps me move forward!
Reprioritize and repurpose to find NEW. Either new relationships, or new stuff. The longer you look at what’s missing the longer you will stay in that spot.
Find something, anything that you can believe in again. Even if it’s short-lived, it’s okay. Life is short. You got to get back to believing and trying something again.
Masking the pain or denying the trauma is not helpful, but rather harmful. Feel it, Release it, and Grow from it. This is how we can continue to experience Sustained Resilience. The important thing is to remember you are not alone on the journey.
While you may not be able to control all of your circumstances, you can grow by focusing on the aspects of life’s challenges you can manage with the support of loved ones and trusted professionals.
This is a Thompson Truth.
