Four Ways To Boost Your Emotional Resilience

Life has a funny habit of throwing you a curveball when you least expect it. And when the chips are down, it’s often when you discover personal qualities within yourself that you never knew you had. Creative, problem-solving skills have no choice but to come to the fore when we’re confronted with adverse circumstances. Being able to cope with negative events in our lives is an essential life skill, and one that psychologists term ‘emotional resilience’ – it’s also a trait that can be greatly useful to pass on to our children. Like all skills, being able to cope and balance our mental wellbeing is something which gets easier with practice. So prepare for the worst mentally and you may find yourself able to cope with stress in the darkest of times.

Make A Plan B

It’s human nature not to want to think about all the potential complications, problems and challenging scenarios which good happen, but you owe it to yourself and your family to have some kind of contingency plan in place for adverse times. This could include things such as making sure you set up a rainy day fund in case of unexpected unemployment, or updating your health insurance cover to make sure you can still pay the bills if you become seriously ill. It can be as simple as making sure you have the number for a good firm of car accident injury lawyers in case you get involved in a crash, or making sure that your children understand procedures for a natural disaster. Have a think about what may be sensible and relevant and make sure you know what to do if things do go wrong.

See The Opportunity

When bad circumstances happen, it can be very tempting to wallow in shock and sadness, and no one is denying that you will need time to acknowledge and process your negative emotions. But you also need to understand how to extract a positive from a bad situation. It could be using your own experience to support and inspire others or it could be seeing the freedoms and the opportunities rather than the denials – such as retraining for a passion profession after being made redundant. The fact is that taking positive action in the face of sheer bad luck gives us back a crucial sense of control over our own destiny. In fact, negative circumstances have the power to become very powerful fuel to succeed – if you develop the right mindset.

Be Kind To Yourself

Often, we are our own worst critics, and if something goes wrong, will insist on blaming ourselves even if we couldn’t have prevented the situation. Emotionally resilient people know that they need to give themselves a break and allow themselves to heal. From joining a support group to talking through your feelings with a trusted friend or even just taking some time for self-care, treat yourself like you would treat a friend going through the same circumstances.

Take The Lesson

Although you should steer clear of too much blame on yourself, it is also important to see life’s setbacks as learning opportunities – moments of clarity that give us a reality check or some much-needed perspective at a vital time. Emotionally resilient individuals are adept at uncovering the lesson in what has happened to them, and in that way, turning it into as much of a positive as possible. Don’t ever let pain be pointless – if you can gain some insight then you will be able to consider some elements that have made a bad experience worthwhile.