Definition of “resilient”: Strong, resistant, quick to recover, spirited, determined or flexible.
What is Resilience?
- Resilience is the ability to adapt to adversity, to roll with the punches and cope with life’s misfortunes and setbacks.
- Resilience will help you survive challenges and even thrive in the midst of hardship. It can help you endure loss, chronic stress, traumatic events and other challenges both big and small.
- Resilience won’t make your problems go away, but resilience can give you the ability to see past them, find enjoyment in life and handle stress better.
- Resilience is developing “Internal Resources” (skills and coping mechanisms to improve your mental well-being) that you can draw on throughout life’s ups and downs.
- Becoming more resilient takes time, practice, experience and often guidance from others.
- Resilience doesn’t mean you ignore your feelings. When adversity strikes, you still experience anger, grief or pain, but you’re able to go on and remain generally optimistic and go on with your life.
- Being resilient also doesn’t have to mean going it alone. In fact, being able to reach out to others for support is a key component of being resilient.
As you watch the film and read the stories introducing you to this topic, please consider:
- What struck you about the stories of resilience you saw or heard about?
- What challenge did the people/person face and how did they overcome this challenge?
- How did overcoming this struggle help make the people/person stronger?
- What characteristics helped make the people/person resilient?
Much of this project has been adapted for our community from a Resilience Cafe on bie.org.
