Hey loves,

Today’s blog post is part 3 of my series on skills for success that we, as fit girls, can develop.

Today’s skill is resilience and in this post, I go over what it is, why it’s important, how to develop it and inspiration to become resilient.

Check out my post on the 8 athletic mindsets for success in fitness for some more tips on resilience and other traits required for success.

What is resilience?

Resilience describes our ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from challenging events.

Resilience requires us to be flexible in meeting the demands of a particular situation.

Our success in developing resilience is largely reliant on social support, our inner drives/characteristics and resources around us.

Our ability to communicate and our self esteem also largely plays into our ability to be resilient.

Our resilience is then, therefore reliant on the following five factors:

• The ways we view and engage with the world
• The availability, our interaction with and quality of social resources
• Specific coping strategies
• Our self esteem
• Our communication skills

Resilience requires going through difficult emotions and situations instead of around them, therefore, in essence, allowing us to overcome them.

Flexibility, adaptability and perseverance can help us tap into and develop this skill set.

According to resilience theory, these are the five traits that resilience requires:

• Gratitude
• Compassion
• Acceptance
• Meaning
• Forgiveness

Why is it important?

Resilience is important because life is inevitably going to throw challenges and difficulties along our paths.

We need to become better at bouncing back and overcoming challenges rather than escaping or avoiding them.

When it comes to being successful in fitness or in any other areas of our lives, we have to be able to learn from failures, get back up, readjust and remain flexible in our attitudes.

We keep moving forward though the stress and uncertainty, at the end, we will only reach success from doing this.

Finally, research indicates that higher levels of resilience lead to higher levels of wellbeing and life satisfaction than those with low levels of resilience.

Examples of resilience:

There are four types of resilience: psychological, emotional, physical and community.

Psychological (also known as mental fortitude):

Staying calm and focussed during a crisis: not experiencing any long term consequences, stress or anxiety.

Emotional:

Being able to manage our emotions in a healthy way.

Physical:

Adapting to physical challenges and/or recovering from illnesses or injuries.

Community:

A collective’s ability to overcome natural disasters, economic hardship and uncertainty, acts of violence and other adverse situations.

How to develop it:

According to Every Day Health, here are 6 ways that we can develop or strengthen our resiliency skills:

1) Develop our self-awareness

Know our strengths and weaknesses so that if a conflict or hardship arises, we will best know how to handle it.

2) Regulating our thoughts and emotions

Journal, deep breathing, visualization, mindfulness and meditation are great tools for regulating our emotions and thoughts.

3) Learning coping strategies

Exercising, eating healthy, sleeping well and relaxation exercises are great ways of improving our resilience abilities.

4) Increasing our positivity

Optimism is an important mindset for overcoming difficulties, stresses and hardship.

5) Use of support systems

As social creatures, our best resource is another human being. Connect with loved ones, friends and a therapist or mentor for better life stress management.

6) Knowing our strengths

Owning and using our strengths is an integral part of thriving after hardships.

Inspiring quotes for resilience:

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient.” —Dr. Steve Maraboli

“Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.” —Mary Holloway

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Nelson Mandela

“Indeed, this life is a test. It is a test of many things – of our convictions and priorities, our faith and our faithfulness, our patience and our resilience, and in the end, our ultimate desires.” — Sheri L. Dew

“It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Inspiring videos for resilience:

Affirmations for resilience

Sources:

https://www.everydayhealth.com/wellness/resilience/

https://home.hellodriven.com/articles/the-50-best-resilience-quotes/

https://kressinc.com/inspiring-quotes-resilience/

https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-resilience/

I hope that you enjoyed this fit girl’s guide to developing resilience, please let me know what you thought about it in the comments section below!