5 Building Blocks of Imbibing Resilience

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going", they say.

Who is able to look adversity squarely in the face?

Are you willing to adapt and make necessary adjustments for a season, in order to work a strategic plan until fruition?

How do you view challenges?

Do you dare to see challenges as opportunities for growth? For evolving?

Or do they spell doom for you?

How do you bring resilience to bear, in the face of adversity?

You know, that dare devil, "you picked the wrong person to mess with", attitude?

Here, I present to you most humbly, 5 known strategies, for building your resilience muscles. In addition to my earlier piece on dealing with life's curve balls ( do read that also ).

So, here goes....

1) Seek Meaning and Purpose;

You may find that a personality study to help you discover your personality type, why you make certain choices, your preferences, strengths and weaknesses, etc, may be ideal for you at this time.

This will help you chart a more favourable course, onwards. Thus vis a vis your core values and objectives in life, seek to identify the things you're learning from your experience, the ones you will not compromise on, and those you find you can adjust to suit your basic interests, without being too high handed, or too slack either.

Mind you, your experience can either make or mar you. The choice will always be yours, how you chose to handle it.

Once you've decided that this will be for you a practical learning opportunity for growth and personal development, then it's time to go to work.

Also, you can try reflecting on past experiences to see if you have any memories of having shown resilience in any given situation,

possibly with bullies in grade school, with a difficult task, etc.

You're likely to discover that indeed you're quite a tough cookie already, with a measure of resilience within you from which you can draw and build upon.

Now you have a faint idea what resilience looks like.

There! You're making progress. Let's go on....

2) Forgive Yourself; This is no time to berate oneself. Do yourself a favour and treat 'you' with kindness, understanding, and forgiveness. Then get the heck ready to move on.

Acknowledge your emotions alright, but don't overthink it. Learn what needs to be learned, get proactive where it's required rather than sit and whine or pine away. And then once all is said and done, you get on with it in earnest. Don't you drown in it, understanding that the earlier you got a move on, the better for you and indeed for everyone involved.

3) Set Realistic Goals; Break down larger goals into smaller manageable bitesizes that won't easily intimidate you. Mind you, your goals are with those things that are dependent on you. Don't go setting goals for another adult, whom you have no control over. Yourself, you can work on so you focus on 'you'.

Ensure to celebrate your little wins as you go along.

This will begin boosting your confidence which will be needed trust me, as you go along.

4) Build Flexibility and Adaptability; Learn to accept change and uncertainty, as the most constant thing in life, and be poised to adapt and deal, as you evolve and grow.

5) Have a Plan and Work your Plan; Proactivity is what they call it. Rather than sit and do nothing, waiting for the worst to happen or hoping for a chance miracle, you wisely and prayerfully consider a plan of action.

And of course, work your plan, along with considerations for adjusting your plan when it is required that you do.

Having said that, please mind that there's time for everything. A time to act, and a time to withdraw from action.

A time for prayer and quiet to hear from your deep within.

A time for action and a time for inaction, to wait for things to fall into place.

Just as the one who sows a seed, having done all, will await it's germination and subsequent harvest.

Meantime, here's wishing you all the best, amigo.