Let me tell the story of the farmer and his donkey. It is an old story which I am sure is known to most.
A farmer had an old donkey who fell into a well. Since the farmer thought that the donkey had had outlived its usefulness, he to leave it there and cover the well with sand so that it will get buried. So-called a few people and asked them to help him fill the well. However, as the sand fell inside, the smart donkey kept shaking the sand off, stomping it, and stepping on the sand, such that it slowly started becoming a ladder and gradually filled up when the donkey shook himself and stepped out of the well.
Smart Fellow, who saw a way forward in his difficulties.
This is resilience that navigates us through our challenges, difficulties, and uncertainties…
In today’s ever-changing landscape of life, Resilience is a word that connotes determination & resolve that keeps taking a person from good to great.
It is this quality, that enables a person to cope with adversity and challenges, making them stronger in the process and generate a positive attitude in the long run. It is a silent resolve that can ignite other positive traits, which aid us to face challenges and adversity with ease.
Resilience is what differentiates, an individual who traverses challenges with ease versus those who get stressed, anxious, and find things threatening.
However, the question remains how does one build resilience?
The answer remains; just like for any other traits, building our mental & emotional strength and believing that we can do it, that we can achieve what we have set out to achieve, and that this is a challenge that we can go past.
There are, however, three catalysts, that support us in ensuring our resilience quotient goes up and stays stable;
Hope: That this too shall pass and that we will prevail. Hope is the ingredient that makes up one part of being resilient. This trait keeps us going, as we feel safe in the knowledge that the tide will turn sooner or later. Hope makes the world go round, as they say, it keeps us
believing that the tide will turn. All-iz-well…
Optimism: That every cloud has a silver lining. It is an attitude that makes us believe every situation has a good outcome or has happened for some good reason. It’s a growth mindset, peppered with hope and positive realism. Optimism helps us to expect a positive
outcome in a difficult situation, once we have taken stock of the situation realistically and the good news is that we can actually learn to be optimistic. For example, if our day starts badly, instead of being bogged down by it and thinking my bad luck is bad; we can take solace in knowing that things will get better if we keep doing what is needed.
Gratitude: That we are granted goodness in our life. Gratitude is the big daddy of it all.
This is an attitude that helps us to focus on numerous good things in our life than just that one or two bad things that happened to us. Gratitude is not just about what others have done for us, it’s about being thankful for everything that is granted to us, good and bad because even bad situations give us great lessons.
When we are grateful, we see hope and optimism and together it makes us resilient to keep taking one step after another. All these 3 traits combine to helps us in being more resilient as the mind opens up to alternative positive possibilities.
Think about some of the great leaders, achievers, sportsperson, and ones we admire; all of them a common trait that they have faced adversities. What makes them admirable & successful is their ability to stay the course while navigating the uncertain and rough terrains.
Happy Living
About the Author: Ms. Nidhi Sharma is a Counselling Psychologist, Growth Mindset Advocator, Taking life from Good to Great. Ms. Sharma is a catalyst who believes in taking life from ‘Good to Great,’ through Behavioural Interventions.
