February 1, 2021

Resolve to be Resilient in 2021

By Gabriela Murza, MS, MCHES®
Professional Practice Extension Assistant Professor, Health and Wellness HEART Initiative, Utah County 

plant coming up through dry ground

“Thank goodness 2020 is over.”— If you didn’t say it yourself, you probably heard or saw it via a friend, social media, or the news. The year turned out to be crippling, not only because of COVID-19, but also because of the other challenges faced around the world. In any other year, these events might have been more manageable. However, in 2020, they may have seemed to pile on with no clear way to respond, manage, and move on. 

In fact, prior to COVID-19, one in five adults reported having a mental illness in the past year. According to a poll conducted in March 2020 by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), this number increased to almost one in two adults (45%) in the US reporting that worry and stress about the virus had negatively impacted their mental health (KFF, 2020). Further studies conducted by KFF and others have also noticed an increase in unhealthy coping strategies, including increased substance use and death by suicide. 

In response, community members and organizations have created innovative ways to provide services, stay in touch socially, and help individuals through stressful situations. Or to put it another way, they are trying to increase resiliency. Resilience is the process of adapting quickly in the face of stressors. You may imagine resilience as the ability to not be harmed by challenges, but it’s more about responding to that stress, learning from it, and coming out stronger on the other side. We can develop resilience any time and strengthen it, even during difficult years. We are in a new year, but challenges remain, so why not make this year’s goal to use resiliency to meet those challenges? The PERMA® Theory of Well-Being provides six competencies for resiliency (University of Pennsylvania, 2021):

  1. Develop Connection by seeking relationships and connections with others, including families, friends, and co-workers. Examples include communicating effectively, building trust by example, and reaching out in times of need.
  2. Develop Optimism, which involves the ability to notice and expect the positive, focus on things you can control, and take purposeful action. Realistic optimism is the ability to be aware of how distorted thoughts can affect our decision making (Fumess, 2018). Think about and work toward the best situation, but be aware of and respond to possible challenges proactively (Perkins, 2020).
  3. Strength of Character is using one’s strength to engage authentically and create a life aligned with your values, whether in your thoughts, actions, or feelings.
  4. Practice Self-Regulation by reframing thoughts, practicing gratitude, and using positive self-talk. Being aware of the tone of your self-talk helps to reframe it from a negative to a positive (Fumess, 2018).
  5. Having Mental Agility means being able to think through problems logically and creatively and testing out different solutions. Sometimes this involves improvising in unexpected outcomes (Perkins, 2020).
  6. Practice Self-Awareness by paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, actions, and bodily responses. Compare yourself with reality and gain feedback from others. Self-awareness can also come from reflection, journaling, and practicing mindfulness.

2020 has no doubt brought on stress in various forms and intensities, but we don’t have to go into 2021 unprepared. Resilience doesn’t mean that stress will not exist, but it can add to your toolbox of ways to cope with and adapt to stressful events.

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