Mindful.org published an article centered on resiliency in difficult time. A link to the full article is at the end of this Daily News post.
1. Take an Honest Look at Yourself
“Don’t get confused between what people say you are, and who you know you are.”
—Oprah
Being in quarantine is a fantastic opportunity to look at your personal values, and to see if you are truly living them. We are all usually good at listing our areas of challenge, but celebrating those things we’re good at could be a bit tougher. Having a proper understanding of both is critical to all of life’s performances, especially in times of adversity.
Taking an honest look at our areas of development allows us to build competence. It shows us where improvement is needed. Truly knowing our strengths, and celebrating them for what they are, is how we build confidence. Why not take some time today to make a list of the values, strengths, and challenges that make you who you are? Once you know what these are, you can start making changes where they’re needed, and be confident in the areas that are already amazingly you. We have been through tough times before. We can acknowledge and celebrate the traits that have helped us through those tough times, and can do so again.
2. Don’t Bite off More Than You Can Chew
“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”
—Henry Ford
Our individual paths belong solely to us. It is unfair to compare them to anyone else’s. Many of us have thought about lofty things we want to accomplish after the pandemic. It’s essential to entertain these aspirations in our mind, but we also must focus clearly on each step along the way. What we do in this moment determines the direction of our next step.
3. Do Unto Yourself, What You Would Do For Others
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
—Maya Angelou
One of the most important aspects of managing adversity is self-care, but in our modern society, it’s often the most overlooked. On a “good” day, we tend to fill our calendar with constant movement and searching for things to keep us occupied. Our personal well-being is usually much lower on that list.
During this pandemic, we’re collectively searching for innovative ways to show compassion, empathy, and love for one another. We’re being asked to perform in ways we are not used to or question our comfort level. We find ourselves exposed to new challenges with our families and working remotely and homeschooling. Our roles are being blurred and personified all at once. It’s easy to put others first and to be a little harder on ourselves than usual. We will have bad days; that’s a normal part of life. A key to navigating them is to find ways to have the best bad day possible.
If we’re looking for a solid strategy for managing personal adversity more effectively, a great place to start is showing ourselves the same qualities we show others. The world needs us all to be at our best during this time. What can we do today, with the resources we have available to us, to get closer to this version of ourselves?
4. Be the Best-Selling Author of Your Story
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”
—Brené Brown
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of human communication and knowledge transfer. We could think of our current vehicles for storytelling (blogs, YouTube, Instagram, etc.) as modern-day campfires, our digital equivalent of the places where our ancient ancestors first mastered the art of sharing stories. We have become extremely good at creating stories for our digital campfires, as well as seeking them out from others.
A problem occurs, though, when we allow these stories to stray into the fictional, creating false narratives based on something other than the truth. We can spend hours, or days, even weeks vividly imagining worst-case scenarios. We allow ourselves to get carried so far down the path of imagined narrative that we can lose our focus on the objective present.
During times of adversity, it’s crucial to stay aware of the facts at hand and act accordingly. Being selective as to the type, reliability, and quantity of news and social media exposure is vital right now. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) suggests, “Consume only what we need to know, what’s most relevant to us and particularly what is happening or anticipated in our own community.” What we allow into our minds affects how we see our situations, and ourselves, which directly impacts the overall story we create.
Try taking a few minutes today to explore the story you’ve been writing. If it is not full of facts, begin writing it again. The beautiful part is that you are the one holding the pencil. Many others can give suggestions about what to include in your story, but only you can write it.
5. Be Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Adversity has always been part of our journey since the very beginning. Some of the greatest moments of our journeys, our most significant lessons learned, our moments of growth, and many of our successes have been the result of how we learned to manage adversity.
We love to cheer for the underdog because of how they handle adversity. We grade those we follow on their ability to lead during tough times. Our current situation has been extremely challenging and will continue to deliver many uncomfortable moments. It is in our DNA, however, to survive, learn from the tough times, and become better versions of ourselves. We just have to remember that precious and vital truth. It will make it possible for us to keep moving forward together.
Excerpts taken from: https://www.mindful.org/five-things-to-keep-in-mind-when-managing-adversity/
For more information about supervisory resources, please contact your Campus HR Team at HSC.HR@untsystem.edu. For additional virtual professional development opportunities, please visit the Organizational Development & Engagement page at: https://hr.untsystem.edu/organizational-development-engagement-ode.