You have probably noticed that some people cope better than others when faced with setbacks – what affects one person may have little impact on another. The key difference is resilience. Resilience is the ability to respond to, recover and ‘bounce back’ after facing adversity or stress. Resilient people are able to utilise their skills and strengths to cope and recover from problems and challenges.
Being resilient does not mean that a person experiences less stress, grief or anxiety. Normal people will experience normal levels of distress proportionate to the problem. When this happens, resilient people will face difficulties, work their way through and move on. Conversely, individuals lacking resilience may become overwhelmed, ignore problems, engage in destructive coping strategies, become stuck and experience a decline in psychological and physical wellbeing.
Individuals and businesses need to call on resilience to get through the challenges thrown at us. There is no denying: it’s stressful. It’s sustained. It’s wearing employees down. Everyone has been impacted. It is important that we all take some time to review our personal resilience levels. If you are feeling OK, that’s great: make a point of remembering to do things to maintain your resilience. If you are feeling that the situation is getting on top of you, you need to take some time to rebuild and possibly reach out for help from a professional. Don’t wait.
You can maintain and develop resilience in many ways. Here are some top tips:
- Mental health hygiene is important. Eat healthy meals, exercise regularly and get enough sleep.
- Develop clear and positive thought patterns. Use techniques such as meditating and journaling to clear your mind and sort through your thoughts. Connect with nature or your faith. Be aware of negative self talk and change the narrative.
- Work on building and engaging in meaningful relationships. This can include family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. The absence of meaningful connection can lead to loneliness, which harbours a range of mental, physical and emotional health risks.
- Identify your values, have goals and build your confidence. Spending time working on self improvement, your life purpose and your relationship with yourself is an investment in confidence and optimism.
- Disconnect from unhelpful consumption or practices. This might include over use of technology, over exposure to media, indulgence in stimulants, over use of food, or engagement in destructive relationships.
Employee resilience is vital for organisations to sustain business and make the changes needed right now. The workplace is an excellent place for individuals to learn about resilience and take control of their wellbeing. You can help support your team by connecting them to the Luemo platform to access resources to educate, build resilience and find options when needing to reach out for help.
NRA members are invited to join Luemo by calling our Director Margaret Aboody personally on 0402 029104. Luemo is an online workplace mental health and wellbeing platform www.luemo.co.au.
Why not get your team started on resilience building right now with our free Luemo Wellbeing Scorecard Challenge. Follow this link : https://luemo.com.au/resource/balancing-your-wellbeing-scorecard/
Want to learn more?
The National Retail Association is hosting a free webinar, “How to build personal and professional resilience for managers” on Thursday, 5 November. Find out more about the topics we’ll cover and register your attendance here.
Register to attend
