My Resilience Plan amid Covid-19

Before I met my therapist, RESILIENCE was just a word whose dictionary meaning I knew, that it is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or in more simple terms ability to bounce back from adversity.

During my therapy, I experienced few setbacks on the work and personal front. First time I had no personal resilience plan. The only thing I had was my therapist who always gave me the confidence that she had my back. Without her, at my side, it would have been difficult to navigate the work crisis. But the crisis will not stop in our life journey. And she may not be there always. Each one of us needs to reflect on the lessons learned from the past and use them as a guide to our present.

My therapist as I lovingly call her Dr. D loves giving me assignments/homework post therapy sessions. All the tough assignments are meant for me😉, I like to believe. Therapy is painful but good therapy equips you with tools to take on the outside world once you are thrown back out from the safety net of therapy. Dr. D asked me to make my own resilience plan. Sharing a secret here when she gave me this homework, I thought my therapist is my resilience plan…what more do I need😉 Homework done. Do you think she will let me off with this plan, the devil Dr. D😊?

So here we go, sharing my resilience plan

The purpose of the plan is to have a ready reckoner, the powerful challenges I have navigated in the past. It builds confidence and shows me my learnings/lessons from these challenges. There’s no overnight trick to building resilience; it’s like a human muscle that we have to strengthen over time. From my therapist, I have learned that there are things we can do to develop resilience on a regular basis. She made me write down the Four S’s of Resilience based on my past challenges and experiences, thereby coming out with my own resilience plan. Hindsight is great for prompting shifts in perspectives. The below exercise helped me in getting that shift in focus sooner and staying in the moment.

1. Supports

Purpose: Supportive people in your life that keep you standing when it would have been easier to fall.

My support group consists:

• Friends
• Elder sister
• Faith seniors/comrades
• Life Coach

When adversity strikes, I call up one /few of the above to help me think through the challenge rationally and maybe reframed.

2. Strategies (that kept you moving)- It’s like refueling my reservoir, ways I refuel my fuel tank.

Purpose: Build physical, emotional, and mental reserves that I can draw on under challenging times. In short, what makes me feel better.

In my case some of my strategies that keep me moving is:

• Taking a walk
• Listening to Instrumental music especially Saxophone
• Writing
• Doodling
• Drumming
• Creating from my Lego kits

3. Sagacity

Purpose: Wisdom and insights we hold onto, that give you comfort and hope.

For the wisdom and insights my Mentor’s writings and guidance are the guiding light followed by my journals and notes from the past.

4. Solution-seeking

Purpose: (Behavior I showed) What solution-seeking behaviors did I display to help actively deal with the problem?

When challenges come, I seek out new information and do not hesitate to ask for help.

In addition, I have learned to reflect on a daily/weekly basis on things that went well, and things that did not work, lessons learned from them are a good way of strengthening and fine-tuning my resilience plan. The more I practice, the better I will get at it. “We are what we repeatedly do.”

Anytime a challenge comes the plan comes in handy. I ask myself: Have I been in a situation like this before? What did I do then that worked or did not work? What lessons from the past could be helpful now?

Becoming more resilient takes time and focus. The habit of regularly reviewing and reflecting on everyday challenges I face and overcome will go a long way to become Resilient Rashi.