Resilience can go an awful long way.
-Eddie the Eagle
Right now our resilience, our ability to recover from difficulties and to maintain mental toughness, is being tested by a pandemic. Every day we have to commit to renewing that resilience for another 24-hour period without certainty of when the current stressors will end. Though it might feel impossible at times, we can do it.
Resilience is not a trait that you are either born with our not. Resilience is a skill that you can strengthen and improve through daily work. Resilience does not mean that you feel no worry, anxiety, or stress. Resilience means that you persevere despite worries, anxieties, and stresses.
Our resilience will help us through this health crisis, and through whatever personal crises may result during or after this time. If you haven’t felt particularly resilient in the past, now is the time to work on building it up. Accept our current situation, adapt to the new normal in which we all exist, cultivate patience, release fear and judgment, and remain in the present moment.
If your resilience is faltering, focus on making it through each day and leave thoughts of the uncertain big picture behind. Each day is new. Each day you can begin anew. And each day allows you to build your resilience a bit more. Allow yourself a moment of sadness if you feel it, but return yourself to the path of resilience and let the sadness help strengthen you.
Resilience through adversity will help us maneuver through this time.
A.N.Carroll 