What does resilience mean to you?
It is a term banded around in a way that captures the zeitgeist of a global pandemic. We are constantly encouraged to be resilient but what does it actually mean? I have created here a list of attributes that I feel encompass resilience. How many of these sit comfortably with you?
- Being Adaptable.
- Able to reach out to others when you need help.
- Being invested in your own self-development.
- Being flexible.
- Able to admit when you are wrong and then rectify mistakes.
- Staying calm in the eye of a storm and able to take different perspectives into account.
- Able to put your self-care to the top of the pile regularly.
- Having humour available when you do something wrong.
- Practising gratitude.
- Showing empathy towards others.
- Able to call upon your own problem-solving skills
- Having an optimistic view of yourself.
- Strong personal beliefs which you live by.
- Seeing challenge as an opportunity even when it feels so very hard.
- Keeping a sense of perspective on things at all times
I’m sure there are more that we could add to this list, but as a practising homeopath and life coach these are the qualities that many people I have worked with have wanted to transform into having as part of their daily lives. In my work as Coach on the Resilient Therapists programme these are skills that we look at.
For me the ability to stay in control of my own resilience is such a key part of being a therapist and healer. If I lose the way with any of these then I know that my business and my own personal wellbeing is going to suffer. I am unable to help them and I am not therefore providing a good service.
Which one of the above do you need to work on ?
If you feel that you need support with your own personal resilience then reach out (so that’s in the list!) and ask. We are so used to giving, giving, giving as therapists that many don’t like to take. Well stop right there – I’m giving you permission to start asking for support. As someone wise once said to me, “If you don’t ask for help then you are stopping someone from shining brightly and showing you what they are capable of”. I loved that and so now I am confident enough to reach out to others and let them guide me.
Journaling is my favourite way of self reflection and you may like to use some of my free prompts to get you going. But just for today, sit somewhere calm and ask yourself these two questions: When did you last ask for help? What challenge are you currently facing and what opportunities could be hidden within them?
How does a lack of resilience manifest for the therapist or healer in practical terms?
So it’s all very well to think about the definition above but what sorts of things might you need to reach out for? Need to stay humourous about? Or constantly learn and evolve with on the twists and turns in a therapist’s journey?
- Evolving technology and how to actually use it
- How to integrate income streams in to your practice to provide evergreen finances
- What is your superpower and your own USP?
- What strategies do you employ to get you noticed?
- Do you have anything you can outsource?
- What do you want to shout about and how can you do that effectively?
- How can you ensure your business is self-running in terms of admin systems?
Of course there’s more. But these are a good start. Now ask yourself what do you need to do to improve your resilience?
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