What is resilience?

Satunnainen

Resilience is a concept that refers to the ability of an individual, community or system to survive, adapt and recover from difficult situations, crises or changes. It’s a kind of mental resilience that helps you face challenges and move on. Resilience is not only about surviving, but also about growing and developing through adversity.

What does resilience mean?

Resilience can be understood on many different levels. On an individual level, it means a person’s ability to deal with stress, adversity and traumatic experiences. At the community level, resilience refers to the community’s ability to work together and support each other in crisis situations. At the system level, it means the ability of organizations and societies to adapt to changes and recover from disturbances.

Aspects of resilience

Resilience consists of several different areas that together form a whole. These areas include, among others:

  • Mental flexibility: The ability to maintain mental balance and a positive attitude in the midst of difficulties.
  • Social support: Support and help from friends, family and community.
  • Performance: The ability to act effectively and make decisions in stressful situations.
  • Adaptability: Ability to adapt to new circumstances and find new solutions to problems.
  • Self-knowledge: The ability to recognize one’s own strengths and weaknesses and to understand one’s own feelings and reactions.

Developing resilience

Resilience is not an innate quality, it can be developed and strengthened. Here are some ways to improve resilience:

  1. Increasing self-awareness: Recognize your own feelings and reactions and learn to control them.
  2. Strengthening social relationships: Love and cherish your relationships, because social support is an important source of resilience.
  3. Positive thinking: Try to see difficulties as opportunities to learn and grow.
  4. Stress management methods: Learn various stress management methods, such as relaxation exercises, exercise and mindfulness.
  5. Setting goals: Set realistic goals and strive to achieve them one step at a time.

The meaning of resilience

Resilience is an important quality for both individuals and communities. It helps to cope with life’s challenges and crises, but also to develop and grow through them. Resilient people and communities are better equipped to face future challenges and adapt to changing conditions.

You can read more about resilience from, for example, the following sources:
Psykologia.fi: Resilience
Mielenterveystalo: Resilience

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