Humans are good at adapting to hardships — and we can even teach ourselves to become more resilient. “It’s just a matter of getting better at it with practice, like building up any muscle in the body,” says Eva Selhub, a resiliency expert and former clinical associate with the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Some simple activities that may increase your resilience include:
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Embracing optimism. When a situation arises, look for the positive over the negative. Ask yourself: How is this situation presenting me with an opportunity?
Practicing mindfulness.Being mindful can help you to regulate your emotions, studies show. This can also increase your objectivity, which leads to better decision making and optimism, Selhub believes. For a simple mindfulness exercise, sit quietly and focus on your breath. Start with five minutes a day and work your way up from there.
Stretching your mental agility. Step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to try something new. Options include learning several words in a foreign language each day, reading a book on an unfamiliar subject, or learning a new game (which may also improve your working memory). Strengthening your ability to process and adapt to new information can help you to tackle adversity.
Nurturing your social connections. Social support can increase your resilience to stress.Sometimes we lose touch with people, so take a moment to reconnect. Send a quick text to an old friend or stop and chat with a neighbor when you’re out for a walk.
