The new term ‘resilient’ or ‘resilience’ means resistance (to stress) and it turns out that people who are better at this, cope better with tough challenges and trials. They are also personal strengths that you can train so that you are better prepared when the going gets tough. Here are the 7 strengths that make up personal resilience.

Studies show that those who are least resilient to stressful challenges are the most self-absorbed or egocentric people – because they take things personally. It is crucial to be able to push the problem away in order to see it clearly and deal with it more easily. The distance is necessary in order not to be consumed by it. So how personally you take what is happening – or can push it away – is crucial for resilience.

Humor is important, and resilient people look for reasons to laugh in everyday life. Humor is a stress reliever.

This is also why people who survive natural disasters fare better than those who have survived attacks on them personally. The right amount of challenge builds individual strength. Resilient people do not try to control their lives, but they learn to control their own reactions. They do exercises to create and maintain a calm mind – using meditation, mindfulness and The Blissful body method .

It is important to avoid negative outlets for the stress. It may be tempting to mask or embed your pain with alcohol, drugs, tranquilizers, painkillers or other substances, but this is like putting a bandage on a deep wound. Focus your energy on giving your body the resources to deal with the stress, not on trying to eliminate the feeling of stress completely. Dare to feel and thus open up to grow!

“Resilient” people seek help from others when things get too stressful and difficult. They may feel the stress as much as anyone else but they are better trained to deal with it (have better coping mechanisms). People with good resilience recognize that bad things can happen to good people, so they don’t get overwhelmed by stress when things go wrong or when things go wrong. They trust that they can cope with even bad situations.

The key is to be able to push it (the stress) away so that it can be managed.

In fact, some stress is good and necessary for us! Because the ‘upside’ of stress is that it helps us survive. In the short term, it allows our system to cope with more than we need to cope with, and in the long term, stress can motivate us to do better at jobs we care about.” – Judith Orloff, a psychiatrist at UCLA, California.

The seven strengths that make up resilience

1. Independence: keeping an emotional and physical distance from the source of the trauma. Not taking it personally.

2. Relationships: the ability to attract, connect and form meaningful bonds with other people.

3. Insights: Ask yourself the tough questions – about your strengths, weaknesses, and the role you play in your problems – and give yourself honest answers.

4. Initiative: Take control of (manage) your problems, don’t let them control you.

5. Morality/spirituality: A strong sense of values and one’s own self-worth (self-esteem).

6. creativity: being able to give meaning to your difficult experiences and painful emotions. Seeing tough challenges as temporary transitions, and that they lead to personal growth.

7. Humor: Being able to find the comical in difficult and tragic things.

This according to Steven J. Wolin, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington University, co-director of Project Resilience and co-author (with Sybil Wolin, PhD) of The Resilient Self: How Survivors of Troubled Families Rise Above Adversity

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, it is we ourselves who become stronger and more resilient.” – Steve Maraboli

– Read about 10 tips to increase self-efficacy

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• Learn and learn more:
• Building your resilience, American Psychology Ass.
• Why Stress May Be Good for You
• Resilience: risk and healthy development (about children)

Dr. Sanna Ehdin