Pick Yourself Up: How to Be Resilient

The young professional lifestyle can be a rough one. From challenges at work to tough times at home, to drama on the social scene, having the ability to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get back at it can sometimes feel impossible. There are some people who seem to come by this important ability naturally, and others who must work harder at it. If you are one that finds it particularly difficult to adapt to, or recover from, tough or traumatic times, we’ve got some notable tips to help you better develop that essential YP skill known as resiliency:

Surround Yourself with Support
One of the easiest ways to help build our ability to survive the tough times is to enlist the help of others. Social support is a rich resource, whether it is found in family, friends, clubs, faith groups, etc. Surrounding ourselves with like-minded people who genuinely care about us tremendously increases our power of resiliency and our capacity to recover from the trials of this YP life. 

Reflect on Past Successes
As young professionals, it is almost certain that this current rough patch is not our first (nor our last). Looking back on past times of turmoil, and more specifically how we came back from them, can help build up that confidence needed to power through present challenges. Tough times can be enriching experiences that offer us great insight into who we are, what our strengths are, and what areas we can work on. Part of being resilient is learning to recognize and reflect on these precarious periods as enlightening and educational experiences, full of opportunity for personal development. So look back on that last time life sucked and take pride in how you recovered and how you have changed and grown since. 

Trust Yourself
In a past Notable article we talked about the amazing superpower of self-trust. In part, building resiliency includes being able to rely on yourself – to trust that whatever comes your way, in the end you’ll be ok. To gain this power of self-trust we must engage in those activities that make us feel good, right, and true to ourselves. Sticking to our word, following through on commitments, being honest, and doing what makes us happy all feed into self-trust and increase our ability to be resilient. 

Stay Positive!
The notion of staying positive can sound a bit cliché, but when it comes to being resilient, this simple act is not to be underestimated. Having an optimistic outlook, an open mind, and the understanding that setbacks and tough times are just a part of the journey (not a part of who we are) are key in being able to continue on. By taking one day at a time, with one foot in front of the other, and remembering that the sun will come out tomorrow (talk about clichés!), it becomes much less of a task to recover from life’s trials and tribulations. 

Stay Healthy
Finally, when trying to develop any type of skill or strength, our physical and emotional well-being must be in top shape in order to succeed. Things like getting enough sleep and physical activity, eating well, and engaging in feel-good activities are necessary if we are to develop and foster that essential ability to recoup from life’s crap.