Resilience in the Workplace:Thriving in High-Stress Environments

We have heard about resilience, but what is it really? Resilience is defined as the ability to adapt, recover, and bounce back from adversity, challenges, or stressful situations. It involves maintaining mental, emotional, and sometimes physical strength in the face of difficulties, allowing individuals or systems to overcome setbacks and continue progressing despite obstacles. Resilience is not just about surviving tough times, but also about growing and improving as a result of these experiences. In essence, resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity and learn something from that experience. Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, not really. Having resilience in a high-stress environment, for example, can be particularly challenging. Stress places unique risk factors on our bodies and our minds. Although some stress is considered beneficial because it can motivate and increase our output, long-term stress can cause many health issues.

Stress is defined as the body's response to any demand or challenge, whether physical, emotional, or psychological. It is a natural reaction that can trigger a range of physiological and emotional responses, such as increased heart rate, heightened alertness, and feelings of anxiety or tension. Stress can be caused by both positive experiences (like starting a new job) and negative experiences (like facing a financial crisis). While short-term stress can be motivating and beneficial, chronic or excessive stress can have harmful effects on one's health and well-being.

Now that we have definitions around resilience and stress, we can attempt to merge the two to better understand both.

Finding resilient people in our lives or thinking back on a time when we were resilient may not be a challenge, but finding ways to build more resilience is key. How do you bounce back from a financial crisis? How do you handle and manage the stress of a chronic illness? How do you come back from failure?

Resilience in the face of a stressful situation can take all of the energy out of us and make us struggle in a way we never have.

While researching how to build resilience, we can look no further than how to build resilience in a child; the true future and beginning of life.

According to the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, “learning to cope with manageable threats is critical for the development of resilience.” In other words, some stress is good and the growth-promoting “positive stress” can actually increase resilience in children. Over time, we become more able to handle stress and adversity, as we have a model of how we handled it and overcame it in the past.

The good news is this: the capabilities that impact resilience can be strengthened at any age.

Here are some key areas that you can focus on to build resilience:

1. Regular Physical Exercise: We are told over and over how great exercise and for a great reason. Exercise increases the happy hormones & promotes the release of dopamine.

2. Stress Reduction Practices: Meditation is a great practice to add to your daily life. Morning can be best, but really, any time of the day that works for your schedule will be excellent.  Self soothing is also a wonderful technique and means that you find ways to love yourself and reduce stress. Self-soothing is a way that you can comfort yourself and is the opposite of getting down on yourself. It is “flipping the script,” if you will.

3. Change the Narrative: Journaling and expressive writing can help in situations where you are thinking about something over and over. Changing the way you think about a situation can quite literally change what you are ruminating about and your perspective around it.

4. Practice Self Compassion: Loving yourself is no light matter! It is important to be “easy on yourself” and not put too much pressure & perfectionism on yourself. We are all balancing a lot; work, family, relationships, and activities. Being easy on yourself is important, as there are so many stressors in day-to-day life.

5. Technology Fast: Technology breaks are so vital during the day of connectedness and comparison. Taking a technology break is important- as technology drives us to constantly compare. In a world of comparison, compassion is worth striving for. “Fasting” from technology can truly impact the way in which we view ourselves (body image, lifestyle choices, etc.) and our self-esteem.

6. You Are Not Alone: Everyone experiences deep and painful human emotions, although the causes may be unique or different to you. Remembering that you are not alone in this world and finding “common ground” among other humans is extremely helpful. With a clear understanding that we are not facing situations solo, we began to understand our shared humanity, and as a result, feel less alone. Keeping a healthy perspective will align you with your goals and keep you connected to those around you.

Ideas for Expanding your network:

1. Join a club or special interest group: Find a topic or area of interest that you can share with others in a group or a Meet Up Group! (gardening, music, languages, film)

2. Participate in a book club, if reading interests you: Finding a topic that is interesting to dive into with others can be grounding and fun and connecting.

3. Connect with a spiritual or faith practice: Finding a time and space to connect with your faith or spirituality can be fulfilling.

Resilience in work and in life is a skill that we are continuing to evolve as humans. Stressful situations can come into our lives and sometimes they are there more prominently. If we have so much stress in our lives, it can distract us from the task at hand and showing up for those around us. If there is a stressful situation that we can remove ourselves from, if at all possible, it can be beneficial long-term. Otherwise, finding techniques to manage the stress of daily life can be extremely beneficial to our health & wellness.