Resilience is a Measure of Health.
Have you noticed some people can endure breakups, deaths in the family, unexpected mayhem at work, and somehow come out of the trial, unscathed and in some instances better than ever? Resilience is the key to your epic come-back, and is also one of the greatest markers of health. The textbook definition of resilience is successful adaptation and swift recovery after experiencing life adversities. Based on psychology: secure attachment (especially in childhood), experiencing positive emotions and having a purpose in life are three important psychological building blocks of resilience. Resilience can help protect you from various mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Resilience can also help offset factors that increase the risk of mental health conditions, such as being bullied or previous trauma. If you have an existing mental health condition, being resilient can improve your ability to cope. Below are a few ways you can boost your resilience and make an epic comeback from life’s challenges.
Heal Your Inner Child.
Those of us who may have had tumultuous childhoods that left deep emotional wounds, part of creating resilience is dealing head on with our past trauma and rebuilding our self-worth and self-esteem. Many of us who went through trauma especially in our youth, may believe that they are resolved only to discover with deeper introspections that there are patterns repeating our lives that are a result of past wounds and still affect us subconsciously. The thing is that research has show that those who have more resilience have stronger emotional relationships and in order to form those, we need to rectify any negative patterns. How do you work through this? Journaling is great, talking with friends and loved ones may add support, and seeing a therapist can help too. If you can’t afford a therapist check out the book Self-Therapy by Dr. Jay Earley which can help you work through the same process on your own at a fraction of the cost.
Keep Your Immunity Up!
When crisis hits, we immediately become more susceptible to disease or illness. That’s why it’s imperative we do not wait before our health is compromised to take care of our daily vitamins and immune boosters. Vitamin C is essential, and taking a daily multivitamin can go a long way. In our modern times not only is the Standard American Diet horrifying low in any real nutrition, even those of us living on plant-based organic diets can still fall short of the mark because the nutrient density of food is diminishing over time. It’s also really difficult to juggle work, life, school, babies, and whatever else life throws at us and still manage to create a meal plan for ourselves that gives our body the nutrition it needs. Megadose vitamin therapy, which is basically taking seemingly very high dosages of vitamins that can’t necessarily be found over the counter is something many of us have never thought of doing when we get ill. Why do this? Well, people have cured cancers, chronic fatigue and pain problems, depression and even yeast infections by taking high doses of vitamins. The best part? No one has ever died from taking too much of a vitamin, while millions are dying from taking prescription drugs. In order to boost your immunity you can take up to 16,000 mg of vitamin C and also at minimum 2,000 IU of vitamin D.
Practice a Daily Mindfulness Ritual.
Mindfulness has been shown to decrease stress, reduce the likelihood of contracting a host of diseases, and can also assist with keeping the mind positive in times of crisis. When things get rough it’s easy to slip into that downward spiral of thinking, and what mindfulness can do is help us to pay less attention to that negative chatter that keeps us in negative Nancy mode. Some practices that can work wonders: daily meditation, yoga, Qi gong, forest bathing or walking meditations in nature.
Connect to a Higher Power.
The Practice of organized religion is slowly becoming scarce in our modern world, as people seem to feel they don’t have time. The amazing thing about faith however, is that it can provide some assurance during times of crisis. Church communities or spiritual organizations with like minded believers can provide essential support when weathering life’s storms. In addition to this, many people find that when they can give their problems over to God, stress reduces, and a deeper sense of peace and positive expectation emerges.