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And why it’s important
Perhaps you’ve heard of emotional resilience. Or maybe just resilience, without the emotional aspect of it.
As the phrase suggests, emotional resilience can be defined as the ability to respond to stressful or unexpected situations, or, adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress, (ie. relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors).
In both these definitions, there is a commonality of recovering or ‘bouncing back’ from adversities.
But what people tend to miss out on is that being emotionally resilient also means acknowledging we may have been broken by something. Some people move on too quickly, thinking that being resilient means shoving those negative feelings down, sweeping them under a rug and moving on without actually dealing with them. Life will always have different challenges and while we cannot always guarantee that we will be okay, emotional resilience is accepting that not being okay, is okay. Once we have learnt how to care for and dress the wreckage, we can then bend without breaking.
“Acknowledging that we may have been broken by something”
Before bouncing back, before carrying on and moving forward, there is a need for acceptance. While the events that have occurred or are occurring, can indeed be painful and stressful, to fully process these emotions, one must face them head-on.
By investigating our specific triggers that incite these feelings of stress or anxiety, we are able to anticipate similar situations and prepare ourselves to look for a more helpful response that can minimise an unwanted result.
Why it’s important