Thursday, Jan. 14
By Katherine Schneider, for the CVPost
You’ve survived 2020, so you must have a good degree of resilience.
Just in case you’re wanting some ideas for adding to your resilience quotient, read on!
Recently I was asked to talk about resilience, by Zoom, with folks in support groups for people with brain injuries and aphasia. Since these folks have successfully navigated 2020 as well as living with disabilities, I figured we had a bunch of experts and could brainstorm strategies together.
I ran through strategies I’d thought of from A to Z and then threw it open to their ideas. By the end of our time together we had over a hundred strategies listed.
Strategies to increase physical resilience that were mentioned included:
- Exercise, including dance (Zumba);
- Relaxation, deep breathing, yoga and sleep (including power naps);
- Nutrition (including dieting that changes one little thing at a time, so it’s easier to stick with it).
Emotional resilience strategies mentioned ranged from talking to a friend, asking for help, joining a support group, yelling (in a safe place,) laughing and crying.
Mental strategies included cultivating mindsets such as:
- One day at a time;
- Cutting back on unrealistic expectations of oneself or others;
- Interrupting negative thinking by telling yourself “leave it”;
- Physically shaking off the thoughts;
- Self-talk like “I think I can”;
- Being thankful at the end of the day;
- Looking for what you can contribute from where you are, toward making a better world.
Some folks allowed themselves occasional pity parties and others just gave themselves pep talks.
Social strategies mentioned included prayer, attending worship services (even if they had to be virtual) and spending time in nature and with pets.
Taking time to recharge with hobbies and distractions rated high for filling the well of resilience. Hobbies that were mentioned included gardening, singing, making art, reading, movie-going, listening to music, watching television and cooking.
Changes in social lives the most difficult
The hardest part of being resilient this year seemed to be the changes COVID has made in our social lives. Physical touch, whether shaking hands with a new friend or hugging a grieving friend, is hard to do without. No wonder many are adopting pets.
As I saw the group of folks with brain injuries and aphasia reaching across age and life experience differences to support and joke with each other, I was reminded that even fleeting, virtual socializing can help.
Maybe building my resilience quotient should be my 2021 New Year’s resolution. That way if I don’t get all my stacks of old magazines cleaned up again next year, I can still claim victory because I napped more.
For a deeper dive into resilience strategies, you might want to read Resilience by Liggy Webb or We Are in This Together by Beth Kempton.
As Winston Churchill said: “If you’re going through Hell, keep going.” Or, as A. A. Milne’s Christopher Robin said to Pooh: “You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”