Your Employee and Family Assistance Program is a support service that can help you take the first step toward change.
 

Resilience: An important skill for all

Friends standing together and laughingLife is full of ups and downs. There are good times that bring us joy and bad times that can really affect us in negative ways. We can all learn something positive about ourselves even when things get tough – that we have the ability to bounce back from setbacks and carry on, stronger and wiser than ever. It’s called resilience – and the more we have, the better we are at coping with setbacks, pressure and stress.

When bad times do occur, some people seem to easily maintain a positive outlook on life, pick themselves up and carry on, create solutions or cope; this is because they have greater resilience.

Resilience is about not letting a situation overwhelm you. This doesn’t mean not feeling sad, angry, frustrated or fearful because of traumatic or difficult events, it just means you’re able to deal with them with a positive attitude and fortitude and act in spite of these feelings. You adapt, learn and move on. In today’s busy and stressful world, everyone needs as much resilience as possible.

While a few of us are naturally resilient thanks to a combination of temperament and upbringing, most of us have to build our resilience. You can do this in many ways, including:  

While men, women and children face different societal pressures and expectations that can negatively affect their mental health, building resilience can help all of us deal with whatever life throws our way.
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