A person's mental and emotional well-being is essential for a healthy life. When individuals struggle with mental illness or substance abuse, it profoundly affects all aspects of their lives and the people they care about.
When discussing mental health, another term often arises: resilience. We discussed this concept last week when we dispelled the myth that those with PTSD are "not resilient."
Resilience is not an innate quality; it is developed through facing challenges and overcoming adversity throughout one's lifetime. However, being resilient does not mean that a person is immune to difficulties or distress in their life. It means that they have the ability to adapt in the face of trauma, tragedy, and threats.
Remember that word, adapt. It’s a verb, an action word. It means we have to do something.
To promote resilience, we have to develop protective factors like exercise, a healthy diet, a healthy sleep schedule, good communication, and most important of them all, a healthy support network.
We may not always be able to sleep eight hours, stick to a healthy diet, or maintain a good schedule at the gym. Life happens when we make our best plans, so those can’t be the only strategies we turn to.
Resilience is active, right? So we need to move to the next item on our list. A healthy support network.
When we’re struggling and in need of help, we have to communicate our needs. And that’s where having a healthy support network comes in. There’s not enough sleeping or eating right in the world that is going to fortify a person against the effects of trauma. To borrow a phrase, “it takes a village.”
When there are people ready and willing to step in and help (peers, partners, friends, and/or family), you are better able to cope with difficult situations. Social support has been shown to reduce our level of stress during troubling situations. And knowing someone “has your back” creates the opening to do the hardest thing possible. It allows you to be open and ask for help when you need it.
Remember, resilience isn’t “toughing it out through the worst situations”. It’s having a strategy and support system in place...and using it when you need it.
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“If you believe change is possible, you want to change, and you are willing to do the work, you absolutely CAN get your life back.”
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