How to Make Yourself More Resilient?

Having resilience is an invaluable skill for managing and enduring life's difficulties. However, building this capability can sometimes seem elusive. 

So, how can you make yourself more resilient in a world that continually throws challenges your way and demands constant adaptation?

What Does it Mean if a Person is Resilient?

When a person is resilient, they possess the ability to rebound from stress, adversity, and failure or adapt to challenging circumstances effectively. 

In many cases, individuals who are resilient are often the product of a nurturing environment in their early years. Such an environment fosters the development of essential skills, like identifying and regulating emotions and building self-confidence through parental encouragement and emotional attunement. These skills are critical in managing stress and adapting to life’s challenges.

However, not everyone starts with this advantage. Nevertheless, the good news is that resilience can be cultivated at any stage in life.

How to Build Resilience

There are many ways to build resilience, each helping you strengthen your ability to navigate challenges and adapt to adversity. 

Consider these strategies and understand why resilience is important in everyday life. 

1. Awareness of Personal Dynamics

Building resilience starts with self-awareness—understanding your strengths and weaknesses, personal triggers, behavioural patterns, and preferences. This awareness enables you to avail yourself to your needs—creating a deeper connection to your emotional well-being, which is essential for developing a stronger internal sense of security.

Moreover, by recognising these aspects of yourself, you can make intentional adjustments to your behaviour and be open to new perspectives, healthier coping strategies, and personal growth.

As you continue to show up for yourself, your internal sense of security strengthens, giving you a more stable foundation to handle life's challenges with resilience.

2. Express and Address Your Feelings

Addressing and identifying your feelings provides you with valuable insights into what’s truly affecting you—whether it’s sadness, anger, or frustration. Recognising and expressing emotions in a healthy manner helps foster a sense of safety within yourself, as it mirrors the process of being understood and supported. 

Whether through talking to a trusted friend, journaling, or seeking professional support, this practice helps prevent emotions from building up and becoming overwhelming, which can lead to reactive behaviours.

3. Cultivate Responsive Behaviours

The ability to respond effectively to challenges begins with practising deliberate and constructive actions that help you regulate your emotions. Self-soothing techniques, such as deep breathing or grounding yourself in the present moment, create the mental space needed to pause and reflect. From this grounded state, you can assess the situation, prioritise your next steps, and shift your focus toward practical problem-solving.

These practices help you stay composed in the moment and help to build resilience over time. 

4. Practice Acceptance

Acceptance involves acknowledging your circumstances and the realities of your environment as they are. This mindset creates the emotional space necessary for self-regulation, allowing you to stay grounded and adapt during difficult situations.

5. Positive Reappraisal

Positive reappraisal involves reframing challenges by focusing on their potential for growth rather than their perceived threat. When you have a secure sense of self and clear values, you’re better equipped to view setbacks as opportunities to learn. This mindset promotes mental resilience, enabling you to navigate difficulties with confidence and transform adversity into personal development.

6. Strengthen Social Connections

Resilience is not just about facing challenges alone—it’s about having a strong network to lean on. Building meaningful connections with others gives you a sense of support and security, knowing you have people who understand and care. These bonds provide strength, helping you tackle difficulties with more confidence.

7. Self-Care Practices

Prioritise habits that promote your well-being, such as engaging in regular exercise, getting sufficient sleep, and practising relaxation techniques. These activities improve physical health and enhance mental clarity and emotional regulation, helping you feel more grounded and prepared to face life's challenges.

8. Engagement in Valued Activities

Investing time in activities that bring you joy enriches your life by providing a reliable source of happiness and stability. This positivity reinforces your mental and emotional resilience, giving you a wellspring of energy and a buffer against the stresses and strains of daily life.

9. Adjusting Work, School, and Family Life

Adjusting and maintaining a healthy balance between work, school, and family life is important, as it creates more space to manage other responsibilities without becoming overwhelmed. Ensuring these areas are balanced can give you the mental clarity to move forward, helping you avoid being consumed by one aspect of your life.

10. Limit Exposure to Negativity

Being subjected to negativity, like constant criticism or pessimism, can affect your perspective, fueling self-doubt or overthinking. For example, spending too much time with overly critical people or consuming negative media can make these opinions feel like your own. 

Instead, pause for a moment and take the time to reflect. What kind of energy are you absorbing from your environment? Are the people and content you engage with uplifting or draining you? Take note of how these influences shape your mindset and decide if it's time to set boundaries or seek more positive sources of support.

When to Seek Professional Help

If you feel persistently overwhelmed, are having intrusive thoughts and unsure of how to move forward, and find that self-help strategies are no longer effective, it may be time to seek professional help.

Take the Next Step Toward Building Resilience

As we've explored how to make yourself more resilient, it's time to take proactive steps toward strengthening your inner foundation. Building resilience starts with creating a deeper connection with yourself—understanding your emotions, setting boundaries, and fostering self-compassion. 

If you need professional support, The Psychology Atelier is here to guide you. We offer therapy for anxiety, depression counselling, and other professional services to help you navigate challenges that have resulted from life’s pressures and transitions. 

Let us help you build the mental and emotional resilience you need to thrive.