Building Resilience
Building Resilience.
As COVID-19 continues to spread globally and locally, it is clear we face two pandemics: the pandemic of the coronavirus and the pandemic of stress and anxiety.
Uncertainty (about the virus, our economy, and our realm of control) can compromise our ability to plan, make decisions, exercise empathy, and envision recovery and ultimately a better future.
This newsletter is dedicated to practical strategies to help cope with this uncertainty and foster resilience in order to make good choices and have hope for our future.
First, let’s debunk a few myths:
Resilient people are “born that way”
Resilient people “never fail”
Resilient people “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”
When it comes to uncertainty, we may not always be able to control the outcome, but we can control our response to it. And that’s resilience. It gives you the tools to bounce back from tough situations and thrive in the face of challenges. Here are three practical tools to help you strengthen your resilience muscle:
Tool 1: Energy Audit
One way to navigate stress and anxiety effectively is to understand the factors causing you to feel like you don't have the resources or power to cope with the demands of life.
Perform a quick energy audit. Let’s say that our overall energy is divided into these domains (and you can customize/adapt as you see fit):
Physical Energy: Nutrition, movement, sleep
Emotional Energy: Positivity, intuition, insight
Mental Energy: Focus, attention, memory
Purpose Energy: Values, vision, meaning
Social Energy: Community, family, friends
All of these domains are interconnected and influence our overall energy to deal with stress and anxiety.
Example: If we go too long without nutrition, our physical energy is depleted and so is our focus; we become irritable, leading to a shorter bandwidth than we’d like with our community, and so our mental energy and social energy are also affected. The mind-body connection is real.
Step 1: How do you feel right now?
Rate each energy domain on a scale of 0 to 10, (zero being totally empty and ten being fully fuelled).
Add up your numbers.
Multiply that total by two.
Example: My Own Energy Audit.
Physical Energy: 8
Emotional Energy: 7
Mental Energy: 8
Purpose Energy: 9
Social Energy: 5
----------------------
Total Energy: (8+7+8+9+5) x 2 = 74%.
Conclusion: I am 74% charged.
Step 2: Reflect.
Which energy was high or low? Which energy was constant? Why?
Looking back on your week, season, year or lifetime, where was energy missing or abundant?
What connections do you see between the energy that you named?
Example: After I conducted my own energy audit, I realized that my social energy was low and it was affecting my overall capacity.
Step 3: Focus on your future. Breakthrough!
With curiosity and a growth mindset, define ONE small action that you could commit to daily (ritual) –to strengthen your energy where it seems to be lacking
Rehearse your own peptalk (what you need to hear) for when your brain tries to convince you that you don't need to recharge or have time to prioritize – because it will happen to all of us. Alternatively, ask a friend to be your resilience buddy to say these things to you if that works better!
Remember that investing in your energy helps not only improve your productivity and performance, but also your overall outlook and resilience. Try these practices for the next seven days and see what happens. If you’re ready and willing, keep going for another seven days. Building resilience happens moment by moment and season by season.
Example: For me, in order to focus on my social energy, I decided to schedule more regular calls with close friends to simply check in with each other. This small practice helped me significantly raise my overall energy levels and focus on my well-being.
Tool 2: Name and ReFrame
Another way to navigate stress and anxiety effectively is to freshen our perspective. Many times, when we are stuck, all we need is another viewpoint. Naming is the willingness to consider the importance of context. Reframing is changing the way you look at that context. Changing your viewpoint, your frame.
Most importantly, shifting our current lens shifts our experience!
For me, I often utilize this process to ground myself in my personal life as well as to help clients (individuals and organizations) chart new territories for innovation and map their trajectories when they feel stuck.
Step 1: Name. Own and Challenge Your Core Beliefs.
When finding yourself in a situation of stress or anxiety, investigate!
Write down your thoughts.
Test your thoughts. Ask yourself if they are true.
List the evidence that contradicts your thoughts.
Step 2: Reframe. Breakthrough!
Imagine and invite possibility.
How would life be different if you saw your context as a deepened understanding of the human experience? Instead of focusing on stress and anxiety, look for opportunities of growth and learning!
Practice self care and compassion.
Don’t judge yourself for experiencing stress and anxiety. Celebrate your investigation and move towards your new findings.
Play an active part.
When we think someone or something is responsible for our stress, the situation remains hopeless and we become victims stuck in our suffering. What helps me to reframe a stressful situation is to ask myself: "is this helping me get what I want?" this way I shift the power and remind myself what I'm really trying to accomplish.
Tool 3: Reboot to Breakthrough!
Even though it’s hard to differentiate between weekdays and weekends, the ritual of beginning and ending one complete week is important! Rebooting is key! Making space to pause and reflect (even if it’s brief and even when it’s uncomfortable) helps us to process what’s going on and avoid feeling out of control.
Here are a few questions to ask:
What happened this week?
How did it make you feel?
How has it affected your thoughts and your actions?
What can you let go of?
What can you offer to those around you?
What do you need for yourself?
BreakQuote!
"I can be changed by what happened to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it."
--- Maya Angelou
You are not “working from home”, you are - at home, during a crisis, trying to work from home.
Remember that your personal, physical, mental and emotional health is far more important than anything else right now. Make sure to give it the attention that it needs, don’t judge or compare yourself to others and most importantly be kind to yourself.
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About Me:
I'm obsessed with empowering individuals and teams to hack traditional systems and disrupt themselves. Breakthrough old patterns of thinking to reach their full potential. I deliver that through keynote speeches, masterclasses and executive coaching.
