Resilience and Stress Management
Resilience, Stress Management – Living in a fast-paced world, it often feels like there is more and more to juggle, and everything is piling up. It can feel never-ending! That is why resilience and stress management are not just buzzwords; they are necessary life skills in today’s world. In simple terms, resilience is the ability to recover from hardship or adversity. Stress management is the method(s) we use to cope with daily stressors, and, boy do we have daily stressors to deal with! Resilience and stress management are important littles skills because, as we know, ceiling chronic stress on our bodies can manifest true physically or mentally in a number of different ways. For example, a recent poll showed that 77% of people report experiencing physical symptoms caused by stress on a regular basis! In this article, I will explain what resilience is and what stress is, how they overlap, and what you can do to implement change to bolster both with a healthier and balanced lifestyle!
What is Resilience?
Resilience is fundamentally the remarkable human capacity to be flexible and flourish when confronted with stress, adversity or trauma. It is not about avoiding hardships, but how well we deal with them. The science behind resilience relates to neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to rewire itself – and various hormones and neurotransmitters linked to mood and coping.
There are certain myths around resilience. One, that “you are born with it” suggests some people are innately resilient, and others are not. Resilience is a skill that can be developed and built upon over time, regardless of emergent skills and beginning points. As you go about your life, you can tie resilience to certain challenges in daily life such as interacting with a difficult boss, overcoming financial obstacles, or recovering from a failure. These challenges are resolved through emotional resilience when you can address them without being thrown off your path completely.
Understanding Stress and Its Impact
What is Stress? Stress is your body’s natural response to any demand or threat you are experiencing. When something major causes you stress, your body releases hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline to prepare your body to deal with the perceived threat or demand. This is often called “fight or flight.”
There are different types of stress. Acute stress is brief. Acute stress usually goes away quickly, like the feeling you may have before you give a presentation or the stressful feeling you may have when you try to avoid an accident by slamming on your brakes. Chronic stress lasts longer than acute stress in time and it can continue indefinitely, like having a difficult job, relationship issues, or financial difficulties that don’t go away.
Whether stress is acute or chronic, stress can harm your mind and body. Mentally, this may lead to anxiety, irritability, a loss of concentration, or even depression. Physically, when stress is not managed on a continual basis, you may experience symptoms like headaches, muscle tension, digestive problems, and sleep difficulties. There is a clear link between not managing stress on a continual basis and health problems. Chronic stress can increase the risk of developing some serious illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure or hypertension, diabetes, and a weakened immune system. For this reason, management of stress is important for health.
How Resilience Helps Manage Stress
Cultivating resilience functions as a terrific buffer against stress. It’s like a shock-absorber for your brain. When you encounter a stressful situation, instead of feeling overwhelmed, being resilient allows you to process the event, manage the stress and recover more quickly.
For example, if two people experience an unexpected job loss, a person with less resilience might easily fall into despair which could lead to a lack of motivation and a long-term anxiety; while the person that is more resilient might acknowledge that it is difficult, but immediately start updating their resume and proactively networking and recognizing this as an opportunity for a new direction. This being an example of when the resilience allows an individual to use effective coping skills. There is scientific evidence supporting the concept of resilience. Studies have shown that resilient people use more adaptive coping strategies and have lower levels of chronic stress hormones. The relationship between resilience and stress management is mutual – the more resilience you have, the more stress you can cope with, the more you cope with stress the more resilience you have.
Proven Strategies for Building Resilience
Resilience is not a destination, but rather an ongoing process. The following is a list of resilience strategies, including practical tips, to help you nurture your emotional health:
Practice Self Awareness: Understand your feelings, thoughts, and behaviours.
Tip: Begin a daily journaling practice. Record how you felt, the reason for it, and how you reacted in difficult situations.
Cultivate Growth Mindset: Recognize that abilities and intelligence can be developed through hard work, perseverance and dedication.
Tip: When dealing with a setback, consciously change your internal monologue to shift from, “I can’t do this,” to “What can I learn from this experience?”
Practice Problem Solving: Break challenges into smaller, more manageable steps.
Tip: Whenever solving a problem, create a list of at least three different solutions, regardless of how crazy they may sound.
Create Positive Relationships: Connect with people who build you up and provide a sense of belonging.
Tip: Get in touch with one friend or family member this week just to check in and have a pleasant chat.
Be Open to Change and Adjust: Change is inevitable, and often leads to new possibilities.
Tip: Make a practice of trying small changes or adjustments in your everyday life, such as taking a different route to work or experimenting with a new recipe.
Effective Stress Management Techniques
Stress management is a complex process that can include different stress-relief activities and stress-management techniques. Here are some effective activities:
Mindfulness and Meditation: focus on the present moment to tame ruminating thoughts and reduce anxiety.
Tip: Try to use a guided meditation app for 5-10 minutes a day waiting for coffee or tea.
Deep Breathing and Relaxation Exercises: create relaxation—or your body’s natural response to relax.
Tip: Work on diaphragmatic breathing: take a slow deep breath through the nose and feel your belly rise when exhaling slowly through the mouth.
Using Time Management Tips: Prioritize what you need to do and create a realistic plan to manage your tasks versus feelings of overwhelm.
Tip: You can use the Eisenhower Matrix (the importance/urgency matrix)—a tool for prioritizing by urgency and importance: Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete.
Physical activity as a form of stress reliever: Physical activity increases the release of endorphins in your body which can improve your mood.
Tip: Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity of physical activity on most if not all days of the week, such as walking, dancing, cycling, etc.
Setting Boundaries and Saying “No”: Safeguard your time and energy from being stretched too thin.
Tip: Practice saying “no” in a polite but firm way to someone who insists on making a non-essential demand on your time or energy.
Healthy Lifestyle Habits: Nourish your body and mind with healthy food, sleep regularly, and limit caffeine/alcohol limits.
Tip: Aim to sleep 7-9 hours per night of quality sleep and add more fruits and vegetables to your diet.
Daily Habits to Strengthen Resilience & Reduce Stress
Implementing small, consistent practices into your daily life can greatly improve your resilience and stress coping abilities.
Daily Rituals or Routines:
Morning Habit: Start your day with a few minutes of gratitude journaling. Write down three things you are thankful for. This helps you start your day in a positive mind set.
Evening Habit: Before bed, complete a short body scan meditation or reflect on one positive thing that happened that day.
Small Mindset Changes:
Instead of asking, “What did I mess up?” ask yourself, “What did I learn?”.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, breakdown the task to the very next small step you can make. Making progress on big tasks helps make them far less intimidating.
Practical Example:
During a break: Instead of scrolling social media, take a 5 min walk outside or do a couple of stretches.
Facing a challenging situation: Before you need to address the situation, mentally rehearsal a positive outcome or a successful strategy.
When to Seek Professional Help
While developing personal resilience and stress management skills can be extremely empowering, some circumstances can overwhelm our resilience and stress management abilities thus negatively influencing our day to day living and our overall health and wellness. Therefore, it is vitally important for you to know when your stress or lack of resilience is becoming overwhelming and affecting your ability to live and function normally. The signs may include consistent or regular sadness or hopelessness, extreme anxiety, panic attacks, significant change in sleep patterns or appetite, withdrawal from social activities, and maintaining relationships and lucrative work.
Professional Help: There are countless benefits to seeking help professionally for stress counseling or therapy from a mental health professional. A mental health professional can offer personalized strategies, and coping mechanisms in order to provide you with a place to feel safe and lay the groundwork to explore what underlying issues may be contributing to the stress you are experiencing or feeling emotionally challenged by. They can help you look for patterns, process difficult feelings, and then assist you in developing strategies that you may use for the long-term in gaining resilience to cope with stress. Remember that looking for help with your mental health is in fact a strength, not a weakness. There are a variety of resources available for help including mental health hotlines, and local counseling services if you or someone you know is struggling with stress or needs help finding coping strategies.
Conclusion
We have explored how resilience allows us to bounce back from tough times, and how effective stress management can help us deal with the pressures of modern life. We have learned that resilience and stress management are not inherent traits, but rather skills that can be developed with mindful attention and daily practice. The several strategies we have discussed, such as changing the way we manage time, self-awareness, growth mindset, mindfulness, and boundaries, are not exact steps, but a pathway towards a balanced and fulfilling life. When we practice resilience, we are building and managing our resilience one step at a time.