Know what resilience is

How do people deal with difficult situations? What is it that allows us to adapt to traumatic experiences, such as the loss of a loved one, a job, or even when we are announced that we have a serious illness?

Resilience is an extraordinary capacity that makes it easier for us to face life’s challenges. It is the result of adapting to different situations through flexibility and acceptance. Being resilient gives us the necessary resources to emerge stronger from pain.

In this article, we will explore the foundation of this amazing ability and discover what it is, what its seven pillars are, and how to develop it.

What is resilience?

It is the ability to overcome adversity and recover. The American Psychological Association highlights that resilience is the result of adaptation to difficult moments in life, through mental, emotional and behavioral flexibility.

Being resilient does not exempt people from problems or challenges. Rather, it is a resource to face misfortunes and overcome them despite pain, stress, anxiety, sadness and trauma. Now, what are the foundations of this amazing ability?

In the book The Resilient Self, Wolin and Wolin present the basis of resilience in subjects who have faced unfortunate situations. These are the seven pillars that they managed to identify:

Introspection: consists of the ability to understand and think about past events, such as challenges and problems. Introspection favors understanding of oneself and how we have overcome misfortunes.Independence: is to know draw boundaries between oneself and the world. It also implies maintaining physical and emotional distance, but without leading to maladaptive isolation. It allows you to develop identity and autonomy.Interaction: refers to the ability to form bonds and be intimate with the rest. It includes trust in others, assertive communication, meaningful connections, and social support.Initiative: refers to the ability to assume the responsibility and taking initiatives to achieve goals and overcome adversity.Creativity: is the faculty of design innovative solutions to problems. It encourages the emergence of different alternatives to respond more adaptively to the environment.Humor: refers to the ability to find the comic side of tragedies. It helps reduce stress and relax a little the tension generated by adversity. Provides relief through the appearance of positive emotions.Morality: is the ability to commit to values that are professed. Guides behaviors and decisions through the recognition of ethical principles.

These seven components represent those skills that resilient people have developed when they have seen themselves in unfortunate moments that they have experienced. These pillars reinforce each other, as they form a solid foundation for the practice of resilience.

Factors that influence the development of resilience

Genetics: Some genes and polymorphisms are linked to the development of this quality. These include: dopamine transporter gene, dopamine receptor genes, serotonin transporter gene promoter region, serotonin receptor genes, among others. These factors can influence the response to stress and trauma.Epigenetics: They refer to the functional changes in the genome, but without alterations in the DNA sequence. This genetic disturbance is a product of exposure to stress during critical periods of growth. Studies in animals and humans indicate that epigenetics plays a relevant role in reactions to stress and the appearance of psychiatric disorders.Development: Traumatic or adverse events in childhood can negatively affect stress response systems, affecting the development of resilience. That is why early interactions are essential to form resilient people.Psychosocial: Within these factors we find several elements that intervene in the development of resilience. The most notable are: monitoring, evaluating and replacing negative thoughts, coping strategies, social support, humor, spirituality and prosocial behaviors, such as altruism.Neurochemicals: It has been observed that noradrenergic, dopaminergic and serotonergic systems are involved in the response to stress and, consequently, in resilience. The authors of the cited review state that: “these neurochemicals interact and balance each other to produce regulatory effects on acute and long-lasting adaptations to stress.”

Other factors associated with resilience are:

Family love and support. Ability to design realistic plans.Positive view of self.Communication and problem-solving skillsEmotional regulation and impulse control.

The flourishing of resilience is not due to a single factor, but to the relationship between several. Therefore, it is not possible to affirm that its development depends purely on genetic, neurochemical or environmental variables. Its appearance is mediated by biopsychosocial variables.

What are resilient people like?

Wolin and Wolin’s seven pillars are useful to understand what resilient people are like and how they behave in the face of adversity. Below we will give you other traits or signs that stand out in them:

Externalize thoughts and emotions that they experience as a consequence of misfortune. They formulate, review and apply different resolution options to problems.They know how to ask for help and who to turn to.They recognize the limits between what they are and what they are experiencing. They do not identify with their illnesses. They identify what they need and what they do not need. They are very self-aware and they know how to listen to themselves. They have social networks that nourish their lives and they interact with exemplary people.They accept what happens to them. They know how to take time to be silent and think.They have good lifestyle habits.They recognize that they do not have all the solutions or all the answers.

These and other qualities make this type of individual able to face difficulties with determination and courage. Besides, They allow them to deploy their strengths according to the demands of the environment.

How to foster resilience

There are many ways to enhance this quality on a daily basis. Here are some recommendations from the American Psychological Association.

1. Have interpersonal relationships

We have already mentioned that emotional support is one of the most important factors that will help you become more resilient. Have good relationships with othersaccepting the help they offer you, as well as helping others who need it, are attitudes that help motivate acceptance in the face of difficulties.

2. Avoid seeing crises as obstacles

You can’t prevent threatening events from happening, but you can. change the way you interpret and react to them. Seeing problems as challenges to overcome, from a broad and positive perspective, thinking that you have sufficient capacity to face them, is essential for resilience.

3. Accept the change

To be more resilient it is necessary to accept transitions and adversity. Acceptance of emotions and thoughts is key to reducing negative moods associated with stressors. Accept what happens to you, but without stopping looking for a way out.

4. Move towards goals

Define your goals in life and strive to achieve them. Carry out those activities and actions that will allow you to achieve your dreams, even though you do not perceive any change. Don’t focus on what you can’t control or achieve, rather, focus on what depends on you.

5. Perform decisive acts

Take the initiative when faced with the small misfortunes of your daily life, so you will be ready for when you have to experience great adversity. Take actions that mark a before and after about the problem. Doing something is better than ignoring what is happening.

6. Look for opportunities to discover yourself

Many times, after overcoming a stressful event or adverse situation, you experience personal growth by learning something new about yourself. In the midst of those moments, Look for the teaching you can get and turn it into an opportunity.

7. Have perspective

See things from a broader perspective, even when what you are experiencing is painful. Try to analyze the experience, as if you were observing it from a distance, look at your thoughts, emotions and desires. Don’t make the problem worse.

8. Cultivate a positive vision

Observe yourself positively and create an optimistic self-concept about yourself. Be confident in your ability to solve problems and trust your instincts.

9. Take care of yourself

Take care of your needs and desires. Enjoy activities that improve your mental and physical health. Exercise, meditate, eat well, get enough sleep, walk in nature. These activities will allow you to reduce stress and increase your well-being.

10. Keep hope

Have a positive and optimistic vision, expect good things to happen to you. Try to imagine what you want and get busy making it come true.. Optimism without action is empty. Don’t stay only in fantasies.

Final considerations

Cultivating resilience is not easy and requires time and patience, especially when it is enhanced in the midst of adversity. This ability is, without a doubt, one of the best resources to take into account on the long path of life.

However, you also have to be cautious with it, as warned in an Adversity and Resilience Science article. In it, the authors question the positive view of resilience and suggest that it can have negative aspects, such as: be maladaptive in contexts where vulnerability and violence are masked, or when effective action to address risk is prevented.

Despite its possible counterproductive effects, resilience is a capacity that brings enormous value to people’s lives, regardless of their ethnicity, age, goals and identity. Have you ever displayed this attitude in the midst of problems? Was it useful for you to emerge stronger from the situation you faced?

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