Resilience, according to the American Psychology Association, is both the process and outcome of successful adaptation to difficult or challenging life experiences. Simply put, "Resilience involves the ability to recover and rebound from challenges and setbacks. Being resilient can be important for helping people deal with a variety of problems and bounce back from trauma" (Kendra Cherry, September 2022)  This is done especially through flexibility - mental, emotional, and behavioral. 

Such adaptation - aka resilience - is determined by a number of factors, which means there are a number of ways to increase resilience.  Three of the biggest factors include: 

• ways one views and engages with the world

• availability and quality of social resources

• specific coping strategies

What does that mean for you? 

There is hope. Resources and skills associated with more positive adaptation and increased resilience can be cultivated and improved through practice.

*Found in APA Dictionary: resilience.

Think of resilience like a force field that surrounds and protects you. Those with more resilience have more protection and those with stronger resilience have a stronger protection. That force field is made up of our personality, experiences, values and desires. It can be strengthened (or weakened) by our self-care practices such as mindfulness, breathing exercises, and healthy boundary setting.