Hey, it’s Shay from StéphandShay.com—with a quick idea for you to ponder.
Covid-19 is just the most recent ‘punch in the gut’ we’ve had to survive. With lockdowns starting to roll out again due to the increase in cases, being resilient in how we bounce back during a crisis is an essential life skill.
Thankfully, resilience is not biological. It is a skill that we develop and can strengthen.
Life will keep giving us gut punches—situations that make us double over in fear and pain—and we won’t always know why or how long it will last. Divorce. Job loss. Death of a loved one. Illness. Another pandemic surge. Crises will happen, and the more mindpower training we’ve put ourselves through and the more habits we establish simply fortify our mental toughness and make us be more resilient than we knew we were capable of being.
Approach this setback and focus on what we really can control. How we manage our mindset, routine, and physical well-being will crucially impact our mental state for months & years to come.
Resilience is a word we hear time after time associated with mental toughness. It’s the ability to endure, despite challenges and hardships. That is true resilience—both physically and mentally. With true resilience, we can bounce back from the gut punches—from tough situations—and make quick adjustments to strengthen our mind and body in order to push through and succeed while others are still doubled over.
Resilience Is Not Self-Help Fluff
For people who have not done the reading behind mindpower, mental toughness, and resilience—it can come across as fluffy, self-improvement terms for the depressed and lonely. But it’s just not true. Rather than fluffy, resiliency is like steel that fortifies your mind and body’s ability to literally get through any type of crisis. Navy Seals are trained to be more resilient than the average human for this very reason.
Think about it. Resilient people have a lot to offer an employer, a spouse, a friend, and so on. They have more to offer because they share some incredible traits:
- They are autonomous—not governed by outside influencers.
- They understand who they are and have realistic awareness.
- They are adaptable and adjust for the best outcome.
- They are optimistic.
- They are not compulsive—and use sound reasoning and logic to make decisions.
- They are bridge-builders and have strong social networks.
- They demonstrate healthy habits, positive self-talk, and have compassion.
These are great traits. The more resilient you become, the more you exemplify these traits. Like any other skill, resiliency is learned and mastered, but it will take time and effort to create this skill. Stéph and I have built an entire company around helping people reach their resiliency potential, increase their mental toughness, and master their mindpower. I promise you, take one of our digital or virtual live courses, and you will see zero fluff—this is real crisis-proofing tool building.
No matter what we are going through in life, we need to always be able to bounce back and reach our goals. External factors will always be there and are a part of life. It’s how we manage through it that makes the difference between surviving and thriving.
And how we manage them is the main difference between happiness and agony. We are all going through tough hardships with Covid-19 and lockdowns and life in general. There is no better time to find ways to elevate our mindset and crush our goals no matter the crisis.
Here Are 4 Ways to Be More Resilient No Matter How Hard The Situation:
1. Meditate, Breath, and Use Coping Skills
Mental resilience is about having the ability to turn it on and off. Use meditation and breathing techniques to increase your mindfulness. Make sure you schedule “unplugged” time. During your conscious meditation and breathing routines, bring in “I AM” affirmations as your first line of defense coping skill. Reset your conscious mind as it dictates your unconscious thoughts.
2. Commit to Healthy Habits No Matter What
Often, we go into a crisis situation and neglect the healthy habits that keep us mentally sound. For example, how we eat, sleep, move, and drink can either be a total focus or totally ignored.
Remember, we are what we eat! Macro- & Micro-nutrients are key for maximizing physical and mental performance. Improper nutrition can lead to brain fog, tiredness, mood swings. Resilience must be fed!
Crisis situations and sleep go hand in hand. Rather than losing sleep over a tough situation, prioritized sleep and recovery time are just as needed as physical fitness. A sleep schedule your body can count on helps reduce brain fog, memory loss, and mood swings, so being resilient is easier.
Keeping physically fit also releases good endorphins that elevate your mood and energy levels. Pushing the boundaries of the physical body is helpful in conditioning the mind to know its true potential. And drinking is key to being more resilient—water, of course. Focus on 2-4 liters of water a day to maintain healthy levels.
3. Focus on Your Thought Habits
Positive, healthy self-talk is key to maintaining success through tough times or challenges. Fear is an illusion, even though danger is real. But how we think can completely change the outcome and end results. Believe it to achieve it. Changing your thought habits starts with positive affirmations, which are simple sentences that describe how you want to be or how you want your circumstances to be, in a way that affirms it’s already true or on its way to coming true.
Autosuggestions help the unconscious mind adopt an idea. Affirmations help them stick. With positive affirmations, you affirm the positive statement as if it already holds true for you. With autosuggestions, you simply suggest a positive statement as if wanting to convince yourself of it.
Affirmations can help strengthen your self-worth by boosting both your positive opinion of yourself and your confidence in your ability to achieve despite a crisis. They can also help counter the feelings of panic, stress, and self-doubt that often accompany anxiety.
4. Create a Positive, Efficient Routine
Routine and consistency are the foundation for mental toughness, and having a smart and healthy routine will set you up for success. Plain and simple.
Humans have always had to be very resilient in order to defeat other issues such as plagues, wars, famines, and hardships like no other. So, believe in yourself and have trust and faith. We will get through this together, one step at a time!
If you want more in-depth tools around how to become more resilient and increase your mental toughness—your bounce back factor—you can WATCH THIS VIDEO, or READ THIS BOOK, or take this FREE COURSE. The tools are here, so use them!
Stéph & Shay
#BeResilient
