Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress, such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.
Emotional resilience refers to one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. More resilient people are able to “roll with the punches” and adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties; less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes, both major and minor. Coping with stress in a positive way is known as resilience, and it has many health benefits.
There are four different kinds of resilience:
Mental resilience, Emotional resilience, Social resilience, Physical resilience.
The benefits of resilience:
- It’s associated with longevity.
- It lowers the rate of depression.
- It helps to attain greater satisfaction with life.
Stress Affects Resilience: In other words, the more stressors an individual is exposed to, or the amount of time to which they are exposed, can decrease their resilience. Due to the plasticity of our brains, they have the ability to be changed. If our brain is enduring constant stress or adversity, eventually the brain will become more efficient at detecting the stressor. This efficiency leads to an individual that is more susceptible to stressors. If an individual’s brain has been ‘programmed’ to respond to stressful situations more readily, it will be much more difficult to bounce back or be resilient.
How to build resilience ourselves?
Some people are born resilient, like a child who falls off a bike and hops right back on to pedal away. If that’s not you, take heart: resilience is a skill that you can learn and improve upon every day. Few ideas to build up resilience are as follows:
- Cultivate positive thinking.
- Lean on your social network. Stays connected and make new friends.
- Be optimistic.
- Laugh more.
- Reframe your situation.
- Eat healthy foods.
- Take time for yourself.
“When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.”
Resilience is what gives people the psychological strength to cope with stress and hardship. Psychologists believe that resilient individuals are better able to handle adversity and rebuild their lives after a struggle. Dealing with change or loss is an inevitable part of life. In conclusion, we not only advocate for an increased focus on mental health, but we also highlight the urgent need of augmenting our focus on resilience and on strategies to enhance it as resilience is pivotal to cope with the stress imposed by the virus outbreak at the individual and societal level.
“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you”.
Drinking doesn’t matter the amount you drink matters. As an addiction tends to get worse over time, it’s important to look for early warning signs. If identified and treated early, someone with an alcohol addiction may be able to avoid major consequences of the disease.
The WHO reports that in 2016, 5.3 per cent of all deaths globally were caused by alcohol consumption. Worldwide, more men die as a result of alcohol consumption than women. In the long term, alcohol consumption can affect all aspects of a person’s life: their physical and mental health, work, finances and relationships. Drink less and be a role model for the future generations.