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Resilience: Build skills to endure hardship
Resilience means being able to adapt to life's misfortunes and setbacks. Test your resilience level and get tips to build your own resilience.
By Mayo Clinic staffWhen something goes wrong, do you tend to bounce back or fall apart? People with resilience harness inner strengths and rebound more quickly from a setback or challenge, whether it's a job loss, an illness or the death of a loved one.
In contrast, people who are less resilient may dwell on problems, feel victimized, become overwhelmed and turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse. They may even be more inclined to develop mental health problems.
Resilience won't necessarily make your problems go away. But resilience can give you the ability to see past them, find some enjoyment in life and handle future stressors better. If you aren't as resilient as you'd like, you can work on skills to become more resilient.
Resilience means adapting to stress, adversity
Resilience is the ability to adapt well to stress, adversity, trauma or tragedy. It means that, overall, you remain stable and maintain healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning in the face of disruption or chaos.
If you have resilience, you may experience temporary disruptions in your life when faced with challenges. For instance, you may have a few weeks when you don't sleep as well as you typically do. But you're able to continue on with daily tasks, remain generally optimistic about life and rebound quickly.
Resilience isn't about toughing it out or living by old cliches, such as "making lemonade out of lemons." It doesn't mean you ignore feelings of sadness over a loss. Nor does it mean that you always have to be strong and that you can't ask others for support — in fact, being willing to reach out to others is a key component of being resilient. Resilience also doesn't mean that you're emotionally distant, cold or unfeeling.
Resilience does offer protection for you — and your family — against developing such conditions as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. Actively working to promote your mental well-being is just as important as protecting yourself from such physical conditions as heart disease and diabetes. Resilience may help offset certain risk factors that make it more likely that you'll develop a mental illness, such as lack of social support, being bullied or previous trauma.
"People who are more resilient have the ability to say to themselves, "OK, this bad thing happened, and I can either dwell on it or I can learn from it," explains Edward Creagan, M.D., an oncologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Check your resilience quotient
Do you consider yourself resilient or not resilient? Or maybe you fall somewhere in between?
People with resilience tend to possess certain characteristics. Use this chart to help get a general idea of how resilient you are. The statements on the left are characteristics of people who are resilient. Put a check mark next to each characteristic you agree that you have.
| Characteristics of resilient people | |
|---|---|
| Statement | Check if you agree |
| I'm able to adapt to change easily. | |
| I feel in control of my life. | |
| I tend to bounce back after a hardship or illness. | |
| I have close, dependable relationships. | |
| I remain optimistic and don't give up, even if things seem hopeless. | |
| I can think clearly and logically under pressure. | |
| I see the humor in situations, even under stress. | |
| I am self-confident and feel strong as a person. | |
| I believe things happen for a reason. | |
| I can handle uncertainty or unpleasant feelings. | |
| I know where to turn for help. | |
| I like challenges and feel comfortable taking the lead. | |
Credits: Based on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Connor K.M., Davidson J.R. ©2003. Adapted by Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research with permission.
Do you have few check marks or many? Think about the ones that you left blank. You may want to focus on developing resilience skills in those areas.
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