Got Resilience? (the answer is yes!)
by Judy Jenkins, LCSW
Our goal at MCA is to work with you as you face and overcome the challenges you're facing.  Best of all, you've already got one of the key tools needed to achieve success; RESILIENCE!  Judy Jenkins, LCSW, is one of our clinicians with a growing interest in areas of resilience and how best to harness it.  This is the first in a series of articles on resilience that will serve to inspire, motivate as well as confirm what you already know.  That you can move through tough times and onto the kind of ones that you deserve. 

Resilience: An Introduction
We all face challenges in our lifetime.  These struggles while difficult, frequently overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable at the time, can also offer an opportunity to grow and learn more about ourselves.  Do you ever wonder why some individuals meet and overcome these challenges, while others do not?  The answer to this question is that those who move past tragedy are resilient.  One way to look at resiliency is the capacity for physical, psychological and spiritual renewal and recovery in the face of stress, trauma, tragedy or threats.  The photo above, of the mountain columbine may serve as a metaphor for resilience.  Columbines thrive on their ability to withstand extreme cold.  They grow and bloom profusely at the right moment, season after season, making the most of their environment. 

The following traits exemplify resilience:

  • INSIGHT - Knowing, either intuitively or logically, and accepting one’s traumatic situation and using that wisdom to transcend that trauma rather than denying or defending against the situation.
  • INDEPENDENCE – Freedom of spirit and behavior which allows emotional distance and autonomy amid chaos.
  • RELATIONSHIP BONDS – If you’re connected, protected and nurtured by others, your resiliency quotient increases.
  • INITIATIVE – Creative, academic, and professional endeavors which foster self-confidence and promote constructive activity serve as mechanisms to mitigate one’s struggles and focus on doing.
  • CREATIVITY - Self expression in the arts speaks to the soul and promotes healing.
  • HUMOR – A light perspective which eases the pain of one’s harsh reality may really make the difference of getting through the day or sinking into darkness.
  • MORALITY – Commitment to something bigger than ourselves, which calls for faithfulness, fairness and compassion, fosters a sense of self-affirmation, thus avoiding a sense of hopelessness and despair.

In resilient families we see traits of commitment, cohesion, adaptability, communication, spirituality, connectedness, resource management and coherence.  To read more about this topic click on the link below:
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspsx