Resilience is the ability to bounce back or effectively deal with life’s challenges. It’s an important quality in all aspects of your life, even more so as we’re facing the ongoing challenges from COVID-19. While some people may be naturally resilient, most have to work on building their resilience through changes to their lifestyle and outlook. Resilience can be learned and must be practiced. Homewood Health, our Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) provider and Medysis/TELUS Health Care Centres, our Executive Medical program provider, suggest a number of tips to help build resilience. Please find below a few of their suggestions:
- Take care of yourself. Pay attention to your physical and emotional health. Eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and find time to do things you enjoy. Finding healthy ways to cope with stress can make it easier to weather tough times. For some this means going for a walk, disconnecting from technology, spending time with loved ones or creating art.
- Consider your mindset and emotions. Stress can cause us to be hard on ourselves and can actually add to our overall feelings of stress. It is helpful to be accepting instead of self-blaming, remaining calm and focusing on things we can control. By making choices that help us take small steps to move forward, we increase our resilience and decrease our stress.
- Reach out to your support system. Sharing your feelings with those who know and care about you can help to ease stress during difficult times. This works in the opposite way as well because supporting and helping others can also improve feelings of self-worth and optimism.
- Know when to ask for professional assistance. While support systems can be critical to navigating difficult times, not everyone can rely on this. In addition, it is important to know when to reach out for professional support. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by a problem or situation, contact your family doctor or EFAP provider and ask to speak to a counsellor. Confidential counselling and immediate crisis support are available anytime at 1-866-565-4903.
Did you know? Employees no longer need to get a doctor’s prescription to claim expenses for the services of a registered psychologist or social worker through Canada Life. This temporary measure will help employees and eligible dependents access counselling while respecting physical distancing.
Read Homewood Health’s article on building resilience here.
Read Medysis’ article on Resilience here.
Access additional resources on resilience:
Taking care of our mental health and well-beingFacilitating Resilience in the workplace
E Course: How can you turn life’s challenges into opportunities? Resilience
Resilience through chronic physical conditions