Any unpredictable situation in life is likely to bring emotional challenges and during these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s definitely no shortage of them. We came across an article titled “8 Science Backed Ways to Boost Resilience During the COVID -19 Crisis” that explained how this type of crisis not only tests our vulnerability as a society but our resilience as individuals.
Each of us have different baseline levels of resilience, but we can each strengthen ours to become more resistant to setbacks. There are habits and behaviors, that if practiced and over time, can help change perspective and guide though crisis using resilience as the main weapon. Here’s a summary of the behaviors that can help build emotional resilience during these difficult times:
Find a purpose. Resilience blossoms as people find new meaning in their daily lives. Some clients are doing this by making face masks for neighbors, while others have made it their purpose (and quite a good distraction) to rescue an animal.
Phone a friend. In difficult times, wisdom from someone who has been through difficult times before is key. Sharing your concerns and fears with someone who has lived to talk about tough times can give you the reassurance you need to adjust.
Be mindful. Whether you’re more comfortable leaning into your religion, spirituality or meditation, resilience tends to go hand-in-hand with a person’s ability to find an inner peace and gain strength from it.
Get rest. While stress and anxiety can wreak havoc on quality of sleep, exercise, eating well, drinking less alcohol and cutting down on negative news can all positively impact your rest and help strengthen your resilience.
Stay physically active. While the current shelter-in-place orders are helping to slow the spread of the virus, they are also restricting physical activity. This is unfortunate because exercise is proven to build our resilience. It’s extremely important to find safe ways to stay active each day, even if it means finding new ways to do so indoors.
Welcome optimism. Optimism acts as a buffer to stress, enabling us to confront and adapt to negativity and build resilience. Find a good source of news and friendships that bring optimism, focus those in order to see and stay focused on the light at the end of the tunnel. Now more than ever it’s important to talk to people that have a positive effect on your mood. Try hiding social media friends from news feeds that focus on the negative or create anxiety.
Embrace humor. The psychological benefits of humor are tremendous. Nothing lifts the spirit like perfectly-timed memes and gifs that are popping up on emails and social media sites daily. Knowing that, no matter what, you still have your humor is a powerful sign of inner resilience and has been known to carry people through the toughest of times.
Project strength. You know the saying “Fake it ’til you make it”? Well, it’s been proven that emulating strength and positivity even during the times you’re not feeling it can actually have a positive impact on your own wellbeing. The more positive you seem, the more likely you are to attract other positive people, and that’s exactly who you need to be surrounding yourself with right now.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has some helpful resources for stress and coping during COVID19, if you’d like to read a bit more on the topic.
Most importantly, please know that we’re in this with you. If you're ever concerned about your financial well-being, please let our team know so we can discuss. We’re all in this together!