It’s that time of year when we can see the end of winter in sight. The days become lighter, there is the potential for rejuvenating our personal and professional vision. I have been speaking to lots of different people and groups this month, I notice a tiredness and low energy in people. Everyone seems to be working on getting through the winter and looking forward. In this blog we will explore resilience and the mechanisms we can deploy to manage all the changes in life.
What is Resilience?
There are many definitions of resilience, including the bounce back phrase. For me, resilience is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances in a way that keeps you resourceful, productive, and performing. It’s about being able to recognise the early signals that your resilience is needed and when your resilience has taken a knock. This gives an opportunity to pro-actively manage our resilience into a better shape.
In what ways do we need resilience?
Resilience is a way to effectively manage the ever-changing world and situations we face around us – examples might include:
- Getting Covid and being ill or having to self-isolate (for example, being at home and losing our freedom whilst self-isolating can be difficult to deal with)
- Being a carer for an elderly parent
- Being given some feedback at work that surprised you
- Having a new line manager who has different approaches to you
- Managing stress
- Managing our energy levels when there are competing demands at home and work
- Being made redundant
- Changes at work
- Working in a new environment or different function
- Mergers and acquisitions of the company we work for
How do you stay resourceful?
Being resourceful is knowing that whatever the circumstances, you have ways to manage the situations taking place around you. In my experience, if we can be very aware of our go to strategies, it can speed up the process of managing the changes we face in life.
Strategies might include:
Reaching out to people and talking things through.
From trusted advisors at work to friends or family, we all need support. One way to stay resilient is to talk things out. We receive new ideas and even just being listened to has the power to increase our resources.
Go for a walk
There is a lot of research to suggest, that being out in the fresh air can increase our energy levels. Even for a short while, this can help us see things from a different perspective and literally see the “wood for the trees”
Write it out
Journaling, diaries and to do lists are popular because they give us an opportunity to express ourselves as well as notice what we are feeling. This can give us a chance to let go of the negative thoughts and put actions in place.
Prioritising
Resilient people seem to have ways to manage their lives through prioritising. Ask yourself in any given day what is the most important priority and tackling it early on can give us a sense of achievement.
Exercise and Self care
Anything that gets us moving seems to help from an exercise standpoint. For self-care, it is worth identifying your own unique way of thriving. Ask yourself:
- Are you someone who needs space to yourself?
- What activities energise you?
- What do you need every day to be at your optimum?
- Who do you need to be around to support your positivity?
I value the concept of daily rituals – things that bring joy and energy. These can be as small as a hot cup of tea, through to finishing work at a sensible time, or perhaps a regular lunchtime get together. Consider 3-5 key daily habits you could adopt that can bring resilience.
I wonder what items you would have as your daily habits? The key is to spend time identifying your energy givers, the strategies you can deploy that keep you at your most resilient.
Change
In times of significant change, we may need to deploy even more of the resources described above. Sometimes there is so much going on that the thing we forget to do is prioritise the very strategies that support us. I speak to many people who are so busy that they’ve not had lunch, they haven’t moved from their desk since their first morning meeting or they wanted to reach out to a friend and haven’t had time to. This is very normal and understandable, as change brings with it a relentless energy of its own. In coaching sessions, we can quickly identify what’s needed and start to deploy resourceful strategies to thrive through the changes we all face and even embrace them.
Fixed and Growth Mindset
One way to consider thriving through change is our mindset and attitude towards it. Developing a growth mindset encourages us to see the positives and look for the opportunity. It can be so easy when we are in the “thick of it”, to forget this and focus on all the problems. This one tool in itself has the potential to turn things around.
I’d love to hear what works for you to stay resilient? In coaching sessions, we work on building self-awareness, strategies to thrive through change, increase our energy and build resilience. If you would like to know more about how coaching can support you please get in touch to arrange a no obligation initial consultation.