What is resilience?
Resilience is a way to describe the quality of something that goes back to its original form after it has been bent or stretched. It is also a popular term used to describe a psychological quality in people. Resilience has been described as “the capacity to cope with change and challenge and bounce back during difficult times[1].” You may have heard the term ‘bouncing back’ used in this sense.
Resilience comes in many different forms, and some young people have described it as:
- Dealing with hardships and still holding your head up
- Giving things a go or trying your best
- Being strong on the inside
- Being able to cope with what life throws at you and shrug it off
- Standing up for yourself[2]
As you can see, the idea of resilience focuses on how we deal with stressful situations and adversity – the more resilient we are, the more able we are to manage adversity.
Experiencing the tough times
Ups and downs are a normal part of life and there are many times when people feel stretched or under pressure. Challenges in life can range from easy to manage and causing a small amount of stress, to very stressful, such as a trauma or crisis.
What might seem like a mild pressure to one person may very difficult for another. Likewise, what seems unbearable to one person may be managed fairly easily by another. For example, you may have heard someone’s story and thought to yourself “If that was me I don’t know how I would have coped!” Or you might have thought “What’s the big deal, what are they so worried about?”.
What influences resilience?
Everyone is different and has unique challenges in life. Factors that influence how someone experiences a challenge or trauma include:
- Personal capacities and coping skills
- The degree of the trauma or stress
- Support and resources available to the individual
- Timing and context of events
- Presence of other circumstances or additional stress present at the time of the event
Given that everyone has different life experiences and different resources, it’s important not to judge people on how they cope or how long it takes them to bounce back from a stressful event. It is also equally important not to judge yourself about how you are reacting to a stressful situation. However, it can be helpful to examine how you cope, acknowledge your needs and develop new strategies to get through the tough times.
What helps people to be resilient?
Research suggests that there are certain factors and circumstances in life that promote resilience. Some of these factors include:
- Supportive and stable family relationships
- Having positive expectations or being optimistic
- Sense of self worth
- Participating and contributing to social and or community activities
- Having a sense of belonging and good friendships
- Personal attributes such as problem solving abilities and communication skills
- Positive relationships with an adult outside of the family
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