“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Nelson Mandela, anti-Apartheid activist and politician

Building resilience is a fundamental part of living a flourishing life. It is a key to being emotional fitter and by building resilience and embracing positive emotions we build an upward spiral towards happiness and thriving, not just surviving.

Being happy is not just about experiencing all the good things in life, it’s equally about making sure we have good resilience skills in order to manage the difficult and stressful experiences that come along… because we will all face something difficult and uncomfortable that we have to navigate.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, resilience is the ability to easily adjust to misfortune or change. It’s often been explained as an ability to bounce back, but the issue with this definition is that it implies you revert back to your previous state, when in fact you could become stronger or revert to a different form when your grit has been tested.

When we talk about recovery from any mental health issue or difficult situation, that recovery is not always linear or means returning to that cookie-cutter version of yourself. It could be a more flourishing version or a managed recovery; be that with therapies or medications. The same is true of resilience – it is not always bouncing back to that previous version, it’s very possible a much wiser version awaits you.

Resilience (or mental strength as it’s sometimes referred to) is strongly connected with hope, and acts as a protective factor for your mental health. That’s why it’s such an important part of the PERFORM framework, which is designed to boost emotional fitness, promote wellness and protect mental health. 

Want to know more about building your resilience? Then check out the short Kindle book by Tabby, “the way to… Build Resilience”