Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsResilient MeaningCharacteristicsExamplesHow Do I Build Resilience?How to Ask for HelpFrequently Asked Questions

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Table of Contents

Resilient Meaning

Characteristics

Examples

How Do I Build Resilience?

How to Ask for Help

Frequently Asked Questions

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Resilience involves the ability to recover and rebound from challenges and setbacks. It can be important for helping people deal with a variety of problems and recover from trauma.

It’s a lot more than just being “tough.” Resilience allows us to withstand life’s hardships and find the strength and resolve to get back up again.

Think about a time when you were dealing with a challenge—like a breakup or job loss—that left you stressed and questioning yourself. Trust me; I know how easy it is to fall into that trap of thinking that things will never change and that the whole world is against you. But these moments are exactly why resilience is so important.

When it feels like we are fighting an uphill battle (and we’re more than a little tempted just to give up), remember that everyone else is dealing with struggles we know nothing about. Resilience allows us to keep showing up and looking for new ways to face these challenges every day. We find ways to keep going, even when it feels impossible. That’s resilience.

At a Glance

What Does Resilience Mean?

Being resilient means facing difficulties head-on instead of falling into despair or using unhealthy coping strategies. Resilience is often defined as the mental reservoir of strength that helps people handle stress and hardship.

Resilient people are able to draw upon this strength to cope and recover from challenges. That’s true even when they face significant traumas, such as job loss, financial problems, serious illness, relationship challenges, or the death of a loved one.

Resilience also means understanding that life is full of challenges. While we cannot avoid many of these problems, we can remain open, flexible, and willing to adapt to change.

Characteristics of Resilience

Some of the main characteristics of a person who has resilience are awareness, self-control, problem-solving skills, and social support. Resilient people are aware of situations, their emotional reactions, and the behavior of those around them.

By remaining aware, they can maintain control of a situation and think of new ways to tackle problems. In many cases, resilient people emerge stronger after such difficulties.

While people vary dramatically in the coping skills they use whenconfronting a crisis, researchers have identified some key characteristics of resilience.Many of these skills can be developed and strengthened, which can improve your ability to deal with life’s setbacks.

The five basic characteristics of resilience are:

Sense of Control

Do you perceive yourself as having control over your own life? Or do you blame outside sources for failures and problems?

Generally, resilient people tend to have what psychologists call aninternal locus of control.They believe that the actions they take will affect the outcome of an event.

Of course, some factors are simply outside of our personal control, such as natural disasters. While we may be able to put some blame on external causes, it is important to feel as if we have the power to make choices that will affect our situation, our ability to cope, and our future.

Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-solvingskills are essential for resilience.When a crisis emerges, resilient people are able to spot the solution that will lead to a safe outcome. In dangerous situations, less resilient people sometimes develop tunnel vision. They fail to note important details or take advantage of opportunities.

Resilient individuals are able to calmly and rationally look at a problem and envision a successful solution.

Strong Social Connections

Whenever you’re dealing with a problem, it is important to have people who canoffer support. Talking about the challenges you are facing can be an excellent way to gain perspective, look for new solutions, or simply express your emotions.

People who possess a great deal of resilience have a network of friends, family members, co-workers, and online support groups to keep them socially connected.

How Social Support Contributes to Well-Being

Survivor Mentality

When dealing with any potential crisis, it is essential to view yourself as a survivor. Resilient people avoid thinking like a victim of circumstance and instead look for ways to resolve the problem. While the situation may be unavoidable, they stay focused on a positive outcome.

Emotional Regulation

Regulating our emotions also allows us to stay focused on finding solutions rather than getting stuck in a cycle ofemotional reactivity.

Self-Compassion

Resilient people are also compassionate toward themselves. They tend to notice when they need to take a break and canaccept their emotions, which is important for resilience.

When facing hardships, it’s important to be gentle with ourselves. Treating ourselves with kindness can be the key to helping us find the resolve and strength to keep going.

Self-compassioncan help boost overall health and resilience and ensure you’re ready to face life’s challenges.

Examples of Resilience

So what does resilience look like in action? Some examples of resilient behaviors and ways that you can show resilience include:

For example, imagine that you get stuck in traffic on the way to work. A non-resilient person might get angry, stressed out, and worried about how being late will reflect on them at work.

Strategies that can help you become more resilient include:

Remember, it takes time to develop a stronger sense of resilience. The key is to keep working on these skills over time. By practicing these skills, resilience will become a part of your overall mindset.

While being resourceful is an important part of resilience, it is also essential to know when to ask for help. During a crisis, everyone can benefit from the help of psychologists and counselors specially trained to deal with crisis situations. Other potential sources of assistance include:

Takeaways

Resilience is important for mental health and well-being, and luckily, everyone can learn to be resilient. While some people may be naturallymore resilient, it’s a skill that you can strengthen.

10 Ways to Build Resilience

They are competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control. Pediatrician Ken Ginsberg, MD, created the 7 Cs of resilience model to help children and adolescence build resilience. However, these skills can be developed at any age.

People who are stress-resilient have better coping strategies for handlingstress. They can recover more quickly from the major and minor stressors that occur day to day.

While resilience is often portrayed as a character trait that people either have or don’t have, it is actually an ability that people can improve. According to one study, resilience can fluctuate over time and may depend on the situation and circumstances that a person is facing.This means that with practice, you can learn to strengthen your resilience.

9 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Reid R.Psychological resilience.Med Leg J.2016;84(4):172-184. doi:10.1177/0025817216638781Walker FR, Pfingst K, Carnevali L, Sgoifo A, Nalivaiko E.In the search for integrative biomarker of resilience to psychological stress.Neurosci Biobehav Rev.2017;74(Pt B):310-320. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.003Hornor G.Resilience.J Pediatr Health Care. 2017;31(3):384-390. doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.09.005Munoz, RT, Brady, S, Brown, V.The psychology of resilience: A model of the relationship of locus of control to hope among survivors of intimate partner violence.Traumatology. 2017;23(1):102-111. doi:10.1037/trm0000102Ertekin Pinar S, Yildirim G, Sayin N.Investigating the psychological resilience, self-confidence and problem-solving skills of midwife candidates.Nurse Educ Today. 2018;64:144-149. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2018.02.014Somasundaram RO, Devamani KA.A comparative study on resilience, perceived social support and hopelessness among cancer patients treated with curative and palliative care.Indian J Palliat Care. 2016;22(2):135-40. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.179606Hutnik N, Smith P, Koch T.Using cognitive behaviour therapy to explore resilience in the life-stories of 16 UK centenarians.Nurs Open. 2016;3(2):110–118. doi:10.1002/nop2.44Ginsburg KR, Jablow MM.Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings. 2nd ed. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2011.Flynn PJ, Bliese PD, Korsgaard MA, Cannon C.Tracking the process of resilience: how emotional stability and experience influence exhaustion and commitment trajectories.Group & Organization Management. 2021;46(4):692-736. doi:10.1177/10596011211027676

9 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Reid R.Psychological resilience.Med Leg J.2016;84(4):172-184. doi:10.1177/0025817216638781Walker FR, Pfingst K, Carnevali L, Sgoifo A, Nalivaiko E.In the search for integrative biomarker of resilience to psychological stress.Neurosci Biobehav Rev.2017;74(Pt B):310-320. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.003Hornor G.Resilience.J Pediatr Health Care. 2017;31(3):384-390. doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.09.005Munoz, RT, Brady, S, Brown, V.The psychology of resilience: A model of the relationship of locus of control to hope among survivors of intimate partner violence.Traumatology. 2017;23(1):102-111. doi:10.1037/trm0000102Ertekin Pinar S, Yildirim G, Sayin N.Investigating the psychological resilience, self-confidence and problem-solving skills of midwife candidates.Nurse Educ Today. 2018;64:144-149. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2018.02.014Somasundaram RO, Devamani KA.A comparative study on resilience, perceived social support and hopelessness among cancer patients treated with curative and palliative care.Indian J Palliat Care. 2016;22(2):135-40. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.179606Hutnik N, Smith P, Koch T.Using cognitive behaviour therapy to explore resilience in the life-stories of 16 UK centenarians.Nurs Open. 2016;3(2):110–118. doi:10.1002/nop2.44Ginsburg KR, Jablow MM.Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings. 2nd ed. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2011.Flynn PJ, Bliese PD, Korsgaard MA, Cannon C.Tracking the process of resilience: how emotional stability and experience influence exhaustion and commitment trajectories.Group & Organization Management. 2021;46(4):692-736. doi:10.1177/10596011211027676

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Reid R.Psychological resilience.Med Leg J.2016;84(4):172-184. doi:10.1177/0025817216638781Walker FR, Pfingst K, Carnevali L, Sgoifo A, Nalivaiko E.In the search for integrative biomarker of resilience to psychological stress.Neurosci Biobehav Rev.2017;74(Pt B):310-320. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.003Hornor G.Resilience.J Pediatr Health Care. 2017;31(3):384-390. doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.09.005Munoz, RT, Brady, S, Brown, V.The psychology of resilience: A model of the relationship of locus of control to hope among survivors of intimate partner violence.Traumatology. 2017;23(1):102-111. doi:10.1037/trm0000102Ertekin Pinar S, Yildirim G, Sayin N.Investigating the psychological resilience, self-confidence and problem-solving skills of midwife candidates.Nurse Educ Today. 2018;64:144-149. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2018.02.014Somasundaram RO, Devamani KA.A comparative study on resilience, perceived social support and hopelessness among cancer patients treated with curative and palliative care.Indian J Palliat Care. 2016;22(2):135-40. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.179606Hutnik N, Smith P, Koch T.Using cognitive behaviour therapy to explore resilience in the life-stories of 16 UK centenarians.Nurs Open. 2016;3(2):110–118. doi:10.1002/nop2.44Ginsburg KR, Jablow MM.Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings. 2nd ed. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2011.Flynn PJ, Bliese PD, Korsgaard MA, Cannon C.Tracking the process of resilience: how emotional stability and experience influence exhaustion and commitment trajectories.Group & Organization Management. 2021;46(4):692-736. doi:10.1177/10596011211027676

Reid R.Psychological resilience.Med Leg J.2016;84(4):172-184. doi:10.1177/0025817216638781

Walker FR, Pfingst K, Carnevali L, Sgoifo A, Nalivaiko E.In the search for integrative biomarker of resilience to psychological stress.Neurosci Biobehav Rev.2017;74(Pt B):310-320. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.003

Hornor G.Resilience.J Pediatr Health Care. 2017;31(3):384-390. doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.09.005

Munoz, RT, Brady, S, Brown, V.The psychology of resilience: A model of the relationship of locus of control to hope among survivors of intimate partner violence.Traumatology. 2017;23(1):102-111. doi:10.1037/trm0000102

Ertekin Pinar S, Yildirim G, Sayin N.Investigating the psychological resilience, self-confidence and problem-solving skills of midwife candidates.Nurse Educ Today. 2018;64:144-149. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2018.02.014

Somasundaram RO, Devamani KA.A comparative study on resilience, perceived social support and hopelessness among cancer patients treated with curative and palliative care.Indian J Palliat Care. 2016;22(2):135-40. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.179606

Hutnik N, Smith P, Koch T.Using cognitive behaviour therapy to explore resilience in the life-stories of 16 UK centenarians.Nurs Open. 2016;3(2):110–118. doi:10.1002/nop2.44

Ginsburg KR, Jablow MM.Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings. 2nd ed. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2011.

Flynn PJ, Bliese PD, Korsgaard MA, Cannon C.Tracking the process of resilience: how emotional stability and experience influence exhaustion and commitment trajectories.Group & Organization Management. 2021;46(4):692-736. doi:10.1177/10596011211027676

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