Blog Post #30: More Resilience Skills

Self-confidence is important in resilience the old AA saying about fake it to you make it is good advice. Being confident that we can manage the fear and anxiety that we are experiencing is important this does not involve acting in an arrogant or self-righteous manner that simply realizing that most of us have been through hard time for and will get through these as well. If we are to be resilient we must find purpose and meaning in what we are doing. We need to be able to make sense out of what is happening and find meaning in it. To do this we need to communicate with others and we need to feel that we are acting on our values even though others may not be. Finding strength through the spiritual and religious beliefs that we have is for many people an important component of this.

Resilience involves being able to see the big picture. Optimists, in general, are often better able to see the big picture than pessimist. They are more likely to see the good and bad of what’s occurring in their lives as being temporary rather than permanent. “This too will pass, both good and bad” is a good way to look at life. They are also more likely to see events as having a specific impact on certain areas of their life rather than having a pervasive impact on their entire life or future. This is not to discount the importance of what is happening in our society but to realize that many things about our life do not have to change. There is still good to be found if we look. Optimist also are better at avoiding the blame game. God knows we need to hold people accountable for what is going on right now in our society without the emotional dose of blame. We are all responsible for what is happening and for allowing it to happen.

Ron Breazeale PhD