Maintaining Resilience in Tough Times
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Background on Resilience
When tough times strike there are fears which arise including:
- Fear of personal ineffectiveness or loss of ability to survive tough times
- Fear of loss of job due to possible failure of one’s personal effectiveness or professional skills
- Fear of impact of losing one’s job on one’s self-worth and self-esteem
- Fear about impact on family and marriage if not able to meet financial needs in tough times
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The APA Health Center (APA, 2004) defines Resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress -such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences.
The APA Health Center (APA, 2004) reports that the following factors are related to Resilience:
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The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out
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A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths & abilities
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Skills in communication and problem solving
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The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses
Ashe (2006) proposes that people need to build resilience to sustain their emotional health when faced with:
She goes on to state that being resilient doesn’t mean you won’t experience difficulty or distress. Emotional pain, anger, grief and sadness are common when you have troubles in tough times. Developing resilience involves behaviors, thoughts and actions that can help you cope with stressful events. It helps restore balance in your life (Ashe, 2006).
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Resilience is a personal strength which:
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Is the ability to positively adjust to adversity
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Can be applied to building personal strengths
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Is gained through building positive and nurturing professional relationship
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Is the maintaining of positivity
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Develops emotional insight
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Is the achieving of life balance and spirituality
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Results in becoming more reflective (Jackson, Firtko & Edenburough, 2007).
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Resilience results in adaptation and adaptation is measured by:
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High prevalence in the community of mental and behavioral health
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Adequate role functioning at work and home
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A high quality of life by all (Norris, Stevens, Pfefferbaum, Wyche & Pfefferbaum, 2008).
Additional factors related to resilience according to APA (2004) are:
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The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out
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A positive view of self and confidence in one’s strengths and abilities
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Skills in communication and problem solving
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The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses
All of these are factors that people can develop in themselves.
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Coutu (2002) believes that Resilience in the workplace:
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Is a reflex and way of facing or understanding the world
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Is deeply etched in a person’s mind and soul
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Results in facing reality with staunchness
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Makes meaning of hardship instead of crying out in despair and improvising solutions out of thin air
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Martindale (2007) came up with issues which can lessen or diminish one’s resilience as one grows older which are:
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Fear of diminution or loss of one’s personal strength
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Fear of displacement in work roles by younger workers or possible failure of effectiveness of one’s professional skills
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Fear that one would not be able to cope with unemployment and would lose sense of identity and worth when one lost professional or work role
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Fears about the anxieties arising in marital and family relationships if one should lose one’s job
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Self-Assessment of Personal Resilience
The following self-assessment survey was developed on materials available on resilience in a variety of journal articles (Ashe, 2006; Harrison, 2002; Ivy, 2003; Lavretsky & Irwin, 2007; and Owen, 2002).
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Directions: Rate each item on a scale of 1-10 for each of the following items as it applies to you during tough times.
1 5 10
never…………..…occasionally….......….almost always
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I consider the cup half full and not half empty during these times
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I get plenty of rest and sleep
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I seek out the ongoing social support of family, friends and others
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I accept help from others no matter who they are
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I look for opportunities of self-discovery for my personal growth
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I work hard to know what role I have played if any in creating this situation
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I keep a journal, writing down my thoughts and feelings during these times
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I work hard to maintain a positive outlook on my situation
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I maintain a balanced nutritious diet
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I maintain a program of daily or regular physical exercise
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I use stress reducers like meditation, yoga, visualizations, deep breathing
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I am an open and empathic listeners to others fears, thoughts and feelings
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I continuously assess how well I am handling the stress during these times
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I schedule time each week to have fun
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I work hard to understand what caused the situation to avoid repeating it
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I sustain my commitment to all things I value and believe in
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I maintain a daily relaxation training program of 10-15 minutes
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I work at networking with other people with similar circumstances
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I seek out the people and activities important to me
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I get my anger out in healthy ways and not on the people around me
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I retain a patient attitude and do not expect things to be fixed over night
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I accept that my feeling sad, angry, fear, anxiety are normal in tough times
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I set goals to overcome the problems and work on achieving them
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I stick to my routines of work, chores, and hobbies for stability in my life
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I envision the future to be more productive than the current situation
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I seek out coaching on how to survive tough times effectively
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I accept that change is a part of living
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I talk out my thoughts, fears and feelings with others and not bottle them up
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I work hard to be honest with people about the realities I am facing
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I maintain my sense of humor in the face of adversity
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I do not allow myself to consider crises as insurmountable problems
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I draw on my faith and spiritual beliefs to survive and be at peace
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I draw on the skills from my past when I survived tough times before
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I seek out others who are resilient in tough times to learn how they got there
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I volunteer or offer to help out others with their needs
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I remind myself I have bounced back before and I will do it again
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Interpretation of the Personal Resilience in Tough Times Self-Assessment
If you rated 10 or more items over 8 or if you rated 15-20 over 5, you are most likely to experience some level of resilience in facing tough times
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Ways to Build Your Resilience
APA (2004) reports that you can build your resiliency by:
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Making connections to develop a strong social network with others
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Avoiding seeing crises as insurmountable problems
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Accepting that change is a part of living
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Moving toward your goals
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Taking decisive actions
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Looking for opportunities for self-discovery
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Nurturing a positive view of yourself
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Keeping things in perspective
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Maintaining a hopeful outlook
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Taking care of yourself
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What can be done in the Workplace to Help Workers Survive Tough Times
Coach your staff about how to build their personal resiliency:
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Have staff assess their own level of resilience during tough times
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Teach them about what are the best ways to build their own resilience in tough times
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Encourage “resilience building lifestyle” changes in the work place
Hoge, Austin & Pollack (2007) encourage the following efforts on the job to encourage the development of resilience within the job place team:
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Get staff to be ‘‘task-focused’’ by making plans of corporate action to cope with the tough times experienced by all the workers
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Develop support groups within the staff which are ‘‘emotion-focused’’ where the staff get a chance to let out their feelings
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Keep the staff in reality by not allow them to fall into ‘‘avoidant coping style’’ where they refuse to believe times are tough
Keep on Building your Resilience to Overcome the Impact of Tough Times
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You can survive Tough Times!
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You can build your resilience!
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Get your team to agree to network together to support one another’s efforts to grow in resilience to survive their tough times!
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References
Ashe, L. (2006). In Times of Trouble Build Resilience. Methodist Healthcare Employee Assistance Well Informed Program:3.
Coutu, D. (2002). How Resilience Works. Harvard Business Review: 80(5):46-51.
Harrison, L.H. (2002). Rolling with the Punches. Business West:19(5):54.
Hoge, E. A., Austin, E. D. & Pollack, M. H. (2007). Resilience: research evidence and conceptual considerations for posttraumatic stress disorder. Depression & Anxiety: 24(2):139-152.
Ivy, A. (2003). Developing Resilience in the Face of Declining Markets. New Zealand Business, 17(6):10-11.
Jackson, D., Firtko, A. & Edenborough, M. (2007). Personal resilience as a strategy for surviving and thriving in the face of workplace adversity: a literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing:60(1):1-9.
Lavretsky, H. & Irwin, M. (2007). Resilience and Aging. Aging Health: 3(3):309-323.
Martindale, B. (2007). Resilience and Vulnerability in Later Life. British Journal of Psychotherapy: 23(2):205-216.
Norris, F. H.; Stevens, S. P.; Pfefferbaum, B.; Wyche, K.F. & Pfefferbaum, R.L. (2008).Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities, and Strategy for Disaster Readiness. American Journal of Community Psychology: 41(1–2): 127–150.
Owen, M. (2002). Psychology at Work: Bouncing Back from Adversity. Enterprise/Salt Lake City: 32(18):11.
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