Building Emotional Resilience: Tools for Managing Stress and Setbacks by Edrian Blasquino

Stress is inevitable. That's why it is crucial to understand it, its causes, and how to manage it better. While stress has its benefits, too much of it can be dangerous. 

Stress happens when it detects a threat (or stressor), and the body quickly goes on high alert but quickly recovers once it passes. These stressors include health, job, finances, family, race and gender discrimination, and daily hassles. If these stressors persist, your body might be in a permanent state of high alert, resulting in problems in focusing, bad moods, professional burnout, and mental and physical health. Stress could also result in weight gain, especially during ovulation for women. However, chronic stress can cause the body to operate abnormally, leading to health issues like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and anxiety. 

But you need to know that understanding and being prepared for stress can make it easier to get through it. And controlling our well-being can help in our ability to bounce back from a stressful situation. Some of us refer to managing and overcoming stress as resilience. 

In this article, we'll talk about developing resilience so you can manage stress and setbacks in your everyday lives.

The Importance of Resilience

Resilience (or resiliency) is the ability to adjust and bounce back when things don't go as planned. Resilient people don't wallow in failure or spend too much time reflecting on it; instead, they accept the situation, admit their faults, and move on.

There are three essential factors for resilience:

Challenge: Resilient people see difficulties as challenges rather than terrifying occurrences. They perceive errors and mistakes as chances for progress and lessons to be learned. They don't see them as an insult to their intelligence or sense of worth.

Commitment: Resilient people have a strong purpose to get out of bed in the morning because they are committed to their life and ambitions. They dedicate themselves to their friendships, relationships, issues they care about, and religious or spiritual convictions in addition to their work.

Personal Control: People with high levels of resilience concentrate their time and effort on the circumstances and events they can affect. They feel empowered and confident because they focus their efforts where they will make the most significant impact. People who spend a lot of time worrying about things they cannot control frequently feel lost, useless, and unable to take any action.

How to Manage Stress and Develop Emotional Resilience

Managing stress and developing stress is crucial for one's health. Stress can lead to numerous physical, emotional, and mental health problems, such as weight gain, contagious burnout, and depression, among others. These are some advice that you can use:

Recognise Stressors and Combat Them

When you're stressed, your body will let you know with symptoms like difficulties concentrating, headaches, cold hands, tight muscles, an anxious stomach, clenched teeth, feeling on edge, fidgety, irritable, or withdrawing. You can cope with stressful situations by being aware of your body's signals. Learn to identify these feelings, either to oneself or a friend, and label them. Take action to counter their effects after that. For instance, you can relax and release tension by deep breathing, stretching, taking a stroll, writing down your thoughts, and setting aside some quiet time to concentrate.

Take Time for Yourself

Make looking for yourself a daily habit. It may mean saying "no" to requests or setting your needs above your obligations, but it is not being selfish or indulgent. Make minor adjustments to your routine to help you become more resilient to stressful situations. Work to finish in time to go to bed, exercise, eat well, and relax. Consider a personal laundry service, so you could have more time to do the things you enjoy. Adding exercise to your routine, which for some may include yoga or meditation, can be crucial when you're feeling stressed. Spending some time every day looking for the "good minutes" or doing something you enjoy, like reading a book or listening to music, can help you shift your focus from the terrible to the good.

Adopt New Habits

The additional structure can give your day a framework that enables you to pay attention to your body's signals, from arranging showers and bedtimes to blocking off time to plan and prioritize chores. Then, you might start taking action to manage stress sooner than before.

Connect and Meet New People

Thanks to technology, maintaining contact with loved ones, friends, and groups is now simpler than ever. Being or having a conversation partner can be comforting and reassuring. Also, using videos for discussions over the phone or online might improve their connection.

Reframing Problems

Consider sitting in traffic or doing chores around the house as an opportunity to enjoy music, podcasts, or beautiful vistas, as experts refer to altering how we think about and react to stress as "reframing." Consider what might happen in a rude behaviour to help you control your anger in return. Keeping things in perspective is crucial for enhancing stress resilience. In addition, you should think positively and make plans before tackling problems. Reframing is something you can practice and get better at over time.

Seek Help

Many people experience the same daily stresses brought on by caring for others, relationships, health, employment, and money. If possible, look for advice and information from friends, relatives, or other reliable sources.

Final Thoughts

One must develop resilience and stress management abilities to succeed in today's demanding world. Individuals can develop the inner strength required to overcome obstacles and maintain well-being by understanding the nature of resilience, fostering emotional well-being, developing problem-solving and adaptability skills, cultivating a supportive network, and engaging in mindfulness and stress management practices. Unlock your potential for success by adopting resilience and stress management as lifelong practices.

A leader must have the tools and resources to build resilience to lead your team better. To help you, QED Organisational Development is an innovative company that assists organisations in improving performance and results. In this demanding industry, they are experts in helping you stay resilient and connected. Click here to learn more about their services.

About the author

Edrian Blasquino is a dedicated college instructor and licensed professional teacher, committed to inspiring and empowering students through innovative techniques and real-world applications to make education relevant and impactful. With a focus on fostering critical thinking and creativity, he strives to create an engaging and inclusive learning environment, continuously adapting his teaching strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners.