KEEPING UP TO DATE

5 top tips for building resilience!

At any point in our life we can experience an increase in daily stressors or have multiple adverse events occur that can really test our resilience skills. If you are finding yourself in this position and wondering where to next, check out our top 5 tips and reminders to help you bounce back and remain mentally tough.

1. Reset and prioritise healthy daily habits for your physical needs above all else. As the saying goes, if you don’t have your physical health, you almost definitely won’t have good mental health.  That means getting adequate sleep, food, water and exercise. We all generally know what we are meant to be doing in this space. If you have fallen off the wagon, reset and rebuild changes incrementally. Changes don’t have to be drastic and we often relapse and that’s ok.  As a guide though sleeping is the priority, that said exercise and avoiding things like excessive caffeine help you sleep so it does all need to go together. Try rebuilding to a minimum  of 250 minutes moderate to intense exercise. At minimum moderate intensity exercise is needed to help your brain function and maintain a health weight. Build up to 35 minutes a day or do a few exercise classes a week. On the topic of sleep, Headspace have great resources apps with evidence based ideas, they even a  Netflix series you can watch   https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81328827
2. Put your life purpose into practice. Research shows that those who are most resilient in life are clear on their life purpose and use this to drive themselves forward in tough times. If you a feeling lost and want to explore your life purpose, trying googling the Japanese concept of IKIGAI or grab the book for a read to help you discover this. Once you are clear on your purpose you can revisit this then to reflect on whether you should keep continuing on in a tough situation and what actions to take. If its supports your purpose, then its about then taking action.  Don’t underestimate doing just one small thing a day to help you drive forward! 99% of the time it  is the thousands of small steps we take each day that help us achieve our goals not the giant leaps.
3. Let go of the outcome. Despite even the most efficient planning and organising, much of life does not go to plan. Having life goals and plans are definitely important to help us achieve and performance. Equally however, it is important to be flexible enough in those life goals and plans to make adjustments and changes based on feedback we receive and when obstacles emerge. Despite our best efforts we will not always achieve an outcome we want. If you aren’t achieving a life or other goal,  it may better to rethink the goal and plan such as thinking of other pathways to achieving that goal, or changing the nature of the goal itself including adjusting to timeframes or the specifics of the goal based on the new situation.
4. Counter your Catastrophising – when things aren’t going well its natural for our brain to catastophise.  For example we might start thinking this always happens to me, with everything or we think things might became permanent. We go to worst case scenario and  often this is very unlikely to play out. Techniques such as asking yourself counter questions after having these thoughts like what is the  best case scenario and what is most likely scenario can help you make better decisions. Equally checking for exceptions where  something is not the case or alternative explanations for a negative event to test your conclusions can also help.
5. Be kind to yourself and others – take time out to do something for yourself and also do something for others regularly. Acts of kindness have been shown to improve wellbeing,  along with seeking social support so why not combine the two. Maybe it’s a simple as taking time out for a coffee and listen to someone else.