How to build your resilience

“Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress.” (American Psychological Association). This is vital right now as we deal with Coronavirus (Covid -19). Here’s a wonderful article on Building you resilience. It lays out what resilience is and the steps you can take to improve it. Here’s a summary of the four main points covered, as well as some of my own suggestions:

Build your connections

Even with social/physical distancing you can connect with people as much as possible or join new online groups – you can have more frequent conversations with friends, people you haven’t talked to in a while, stay connected with your sports teams, keep regular meetings or workouts by video. You can share articles, poems, books or work on similar projects from afar.

Foster wellness

Focus on exercise, sleep, meditation, journaling, yoga, healthy nutrition and hydration. If you aren’t a runner, now is a great time to explore this and get moving. It’s an easy thing to do alone, without much equipment right outside your door and it’s easy to keep social distance while doing it. There are also so many positive aspects to running outdoors – getting sunlight, seeing and being in nature. You can request individual distance coaching if needed. This is a great time to get two workouts in a day, to take extra walks around the neighborhood or to try those exercise videos. It may also be a good time to do therapy as several therapists are now offering teletherapy and you may have more access without having to travel. Our therapists have opened up additional tele-therapy slots to accommodate the need during this time.

Find purpose

While you are at home focus on what’s important to you. You may have more time than you’d wish, but you can find ways to help support others. Spend time assessing what’s actually important to you. Do you enjoy writing, reading, doing home-projects, cooking, talking with loved ones? Do you love your job, or is this a good opportunity to look up new types of work, learn a new trade, explore schools? Can you spend more positive time with your partner or children? 

Embrace Healthy Thoughts 

This may be one of the most challenging areas, because it involves acceptance of change and letting go of trying to control things that aren’t in your control and dealing with what is right in front of you. One point I’d highlight is the last point they make: Learn from your past. If you’ve been through trauma, stress, uncertainty or grief and can think back to the toughest times in your life, reflect on how you got through that time. What healthy coping skills helped you get through? What actions did you put in place? Who or what did you turn to? Are there lessons you learned that can be applied to the current situation?

For the next few weeks and months let’s focus on building our resilience, adapting to change, holding on to hope and doing the day to day tasks that keep us all going.

Dr. Cory Nyamora is a licensed psychologist, an endurance sports coach with certifications from USA Triathlon. He is the founder of Endurance – A Sports & Psychology Center, Inc. He provides running and triathlon coaching for beginner and experienced athletes, as well as psychological services to children, adults, and families. He provides trainings for organizations on topics related to the intersections of sports and mental health and overall wellness.