Step One to Overcoming Adversity
The starting point of overcoming adversity and embracing resilience is taking personal responsibility for a situation. You have to take ownership of the situation that you’re in, because no one is going to swoop in and save you. It sounds like a simple concept, but it’s actually quite difficult. Often times, when something goes bad, we look for someone to blame. But instead of pushing the problem and the solution onto someone else, take responsibility for the experience that you’re having right now, and start there.
The Importance of Gratitude
Gratitude is one of the most important factors of resiliency. If you don’t have gratitude for where you’re at in the present moment, it can cause a lot of disturbances that make it difficult to be resilient. If you get too hung up on the things that have happened in the past and are already gone, it can induce depression. If you get too hung up on what is coming in the future, it can trigger anxiety. Neither of these things is helpful for resiliency. Alternatively, if you have gratitude and mindfulness about the present, you have the opportunity to strengthen your resiliency and overcome adversity. A mantra that exemplifies this mindset is: “Thank you for the opportunity to be who I am, where I am, with what I have, at this moment in time.”
Take Action
The language that we use in any given situation is so important. The way that we talk about a situation is the way that we experience it. Say for example you spent a lot of time putting together a pitch, and then it gets rejected by the client at the very last minute. At that moment you could get really frustrated and beat yourself up, and look at all the things that went wrong. Or, you can turn around and say that you presented the best solution that you had for them, and say that was a great opportunity to learn more about a potential client and present new ideas. It’s how we describe these difficult situations that influence our experience of it. This is one of the biggest keys to resiliency, despite difficult circumstances.
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