Developing Resilience

Resiliency – is defined as the ability to recover from disruptive change, misfortune, and failure. In the face of a major health crisis of our own or our loved ones, resiliency is possible.

Here are some suggestions for developing resiliency, as excerpted from The Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton by Rebecca Shambaugh, McGraw-Hill

Understand Yourself. Resiliency is built on self-awareness. This includes knowledge of your values, beliefs, emotions, and attitudes as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

Control Your Immediate Response and Make a Plan. We all tend to have an immediate reaction to adversity. Some of us avoid the bad news while others prepare for battle. Know your tendency to react one way or the other, and choose to be pro-active rather than reactive.

Embrace Change because it will help build new skills, broaden your perspective, and enhance your resilience.

Be Courageous. Fear causes us to become immobile, ignore options, and retreat from possibility. It is the greatest obstacle to resiliency. Courage might mean standing up for what you believe is important, or even volunteering to do something that you're not really sure you can do.

Never Give Up! We all get discouraged, but this is when we need to dig deep inside and find that well of determination and inner strength that will help us face our fears, and keep us committed to our goals.