Learn practical tips to strengthen your resilience, and how to instill resilience in others
by Louis Greenstein
Why do some people spring back from hardship while others struggle? Experts agree that resilience is a function of several elements, including genetics, trauma, and personal development, not necessarily in that order. Each of us is genetically hardwired to recover after a failure — some more quickly than others. And, to an extent, our resilience is informed by our experiences. A young person who is abused, neglected, or abandoned is less likely to develop the resilience of one who was nurtured and supported. But most important, whatever degree of resilience we possess, we can always work to increase it. Resilience gets projects accomplished and polio eradicated. It beats the odds, turning losses into wins. Which leads to the question: What, exactly, is resilience?
According to George Everly Jr., professor of psychology and public health at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed, resilience is a matter of both attitude and actions. Tenacity is an action. “People won’t be tenacious if they assume they are going to fail,” he says. “A resilient attitude is optimistic; it’s the belief in a self-fulfilling prophecy.” If you expect to be resilient, you will become resilient. “But the attitude is impotent without subsequent action,” Everly adds. “This ain’t rocket science. We tend to couch it in psychobabble and the ethereal, and it is not.”
Here’s how to learn the art of bouncing back.
