Now more than ever, building personal resiliency could be paramount to feeling grounded at home, in your nursing career, or other areas of your life. We’ve all been put through the wringer this year, but by focusing on personal resiliency, we may be able to come out the other side stronger than we were before. However, it’s essential to realize that the journey to building personal resiliency is just that: a journey.
Think of it this way – personal resiliency can be compared to a simple rubber band. A rubber band that is resilient and elastic returns to form quickly when stretched. However, too much stretching can lead to a rubber band that looks nothing like its original shape. Like the rubber band, we must do our best to stay true to ourselves, our actual condition. This occurs through personal resiliency; this emotional resiliency permeates our lives, impacting our ability to bounce back quickly from adverse circumstances.
Ways to Build Personal Resiliency – The Four Ps of Resiliency
- Focus on Priorities – By focusing on what truly matters to you personally, external circumstances that don’t affect those priorities carry less weight. Your preferences define and drive you. Shifting the focus to your priorities allows you to become free from mental burdens that are not associated with priorities.
One tangible action you could take to improve your focus on priorities would be writing your preferences on a small slip of paper and carrying it with you throughout your day. This may seem small, but even a little reminder can ground you, building your resiliency.
- Know Your Purpose – Like priorities, knowing your purpose can help create the mental fortitude that comes with personal resiliency. Your goal can be anything, but your resolve to stay true to that purpose is strengthened by being aware of what that purpose is. A firm resolve on staying true to your goal is a handy tool in building personal resilience.
Checking in with yourself on why you are doing what you are doing is a great way to reflect on your purpose. This simple action reminds you just how vital your goal is, making it easier to strengthen your resolve.
- Check Your Perspective – A healthy perspective can make an enormous difference in the quest to achieve personal resiliency. Often, we make poor decisions when our view is not in focus. This is especially true in tough times. What’s worse, these poor decisions often leak over into other areas of our lives, impacting everything we do. An informed perspective could be the best way to combat poor decision making in times of fear, distress, or confusion.
A deep breath to center your perspective in times of distress is an easy way to check your attitude. It doesn’t seem like much, but it could provide the break you need to snap back with resilience.
- Take Personal Responsibility – Personal responsibility is paramount to resiliency, both personal and professional. Taking personal responsibility shows dedication to your actions and creates a sense of ownership. It also indicates resolve in the face of mistakes; paired with a focused perspective, mistakes can be viewed as learning opportunities when responsibility is claimed.
This is also key regarding your mental and physical well-being. Being a nurse, you understand the importance of these areas regarding your patients, so it’s of the utmost importance that you place this same level of importance on your own mental and physical health. After all, without taking responsibility for these areas, you will eventually be unable to offer the needed energy level to maintain healthy relationships with those you love.
Bringing it Together
Personal resiliency, or the ability to bounce back from negative situations, is more important than one might think. Because it can impact so many areas of your life, personal resiliency is key to maintaining a healthy balance. The Four Ps of Resiliency provides a framework to keep in mind when becoming more personally resilient. Still, it’s vital to remember that personal resiliency is not a destination but a lifelong journey.
