Staying grounded and centered in a world with constant change and challenges is becoming more and more difficult. If you and your loved ones want to navigate planet earth successfully, it requires some solid emotional resiliency and fortitude.
Emotional resilience is the ability to successfully cope with change or misfortune. Even when afraid, resilient people are able to respond to life’s challenges with courage and emotional stamina. While we can’t always control life’s challenges, we can control how we respond to those challenges. Over the next several blogs, I am going to explore emotional resiliency and how to cultivate more of it!
I thought a great way to start would be to take a little assessment and establish your baseline. The following is a short quiz that will provide insight into your current degree of emotional resiliency. Respond either True or False to the statements to discover how well you cope with life’s many challenges.
Set 1
1. When bad things happen, I think “why me?” I feel fear and self-pity; I want to find someone to blame.
2. When I feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, I overeat, drink too much alcohol, or do other things I know aren’t good for me.
3. I don’t trust that I can handle adversity by myself, nor do I have supportive people I can truly count on in a crisis.
4. Even when my life seems stable, I worry that some kind of misfortune is around the corner. I also have a tendency to create catastrophes out of the little things that happen.
5. I find it hard to feel faith when bad things happen to good people. I feel despairing, hopeless, and unable to move forward.
Set 2
1. I handle everything better when I take good care of myself. Exercising raises my endorphins; eating right and sleeping well gives me more physical, mental, and emotional stamina; and setting aside time for play and positive connections makes me feel more joyful and optimistic.
2. I have faith in my ability to handle life’s challenges. At the same time, I know the importance of having loving, supportive people to help me face difficulties, large and small.
3. Even when faced with misfortune, I look for the “silver lining.” I believe that ultimately there’s a positive opportunity from which I can learn and grow.
4. I have a strong sense of meaning and purpose in my life that helps me move forward despite any obstacles.
5. I’m very persistent. Even when I get knocked down, I trust myself to eventually get back up.
How did you do?
If you answered True more often in Set 1 and False more often in Set 2, you may want to learn some ways to cultivate greater emotional resilience. However, if you answered True more often in set 2, you probably possess a good degree of emotional resiliency…but learning more can never hurt!
In the next four blogs, I’ll explore concepts and exercises that will assist you in developing greater emotional fortitude.
In the meantime if you have questions or thoughts around the topic of emotional resiliency that you would like me to share or address, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me at Traci@connectionpointcoaching.com
Dedicated to raising your consciousness!
Author’s content used under license, © Claire Communications
