Psychological Bounce and How To Get It
Broadcaster and entrepreneur, Vivian Komori once said “life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb but how well you bounce”(1). When I think about “bounce,” I think about the idea of resilience. Resilience is our ability to return to a sense of mental wellbeing despite experiencing adversity in our lives (3). It is not to say that resilient people are unaffected when bad things happen but that they are able to return to a place of relative good mental health even though they have had adverse experiences (2).
So how does this ability to bounce develop? Resilience is developed over our lifetime through an interaction between our genetic make-up and our environment (2,3). Personality factors such as openness, sense of control over our environment, sense of competency, self-esteem, the way we interpret situations and optimism contribute to our ability to bounce (2). Our level of social support, that is, good and secure relationships with a parent or parental figure, family stability, supportive teachers, positive and supportive friends and healthy communities all impact on a person’s development of resilience as they become an adult (2). In addition, for some people, their genes also serve to protect them from harsh life experiences whereas for others how their genes interact with harsh early life experiences may make them more vulnerable to poor mental health (2).
If resilience is something we develop while we are growing up, largely due to factors that we could not influence as children, how can we improve or develop it as an adult? Good question, if I do say so myself! The answers lies in those areas of our life, that as adults, we can influence: our environment, relationships and in how we think about things – and yes, we are quite able to change the way we think. Working on improving our self-esteem, our sense that we can change situations for the better and having confidence in your own strengths and abilities helps in developing an ability to “bounce” (2,4). In addition, developing an optimistic attitude of the future by making realistic plans, goal setting, undertaking the steps to achieve your goals and problem solving through difficulties all add to our resilience (4). Very importantly, developing loving and secure relationships with others, improving our communication skills (4), and engaging actively in our communities serves to make us connected socially and act as a buffer from adverse experiences. Finally, working on modifying our thinking to be more realistic and positive and learning ways to cope with strong feelings and reactions also significantly helps in developing resilience (4).
There are considerable resources in today’s world to help us in developing the skills and attributes associated with resilience. Self-help books, support groups, online resources (although the quality of online resources is variable) and mental health professionals can all offer ideas and resources to assist you in developing resilience.
References:
- Psychology Today: 50 Quotes on Living Well. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201201/50-quotes-living-well (cited September 5th, 2014).
- Herrman, Helen; Stewart, Donna E; Diaz-Granados, Natalia; Berger, Elena L; Jackson, Beth; et al (May, 2011). What is Resilience? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56.5: pp 258-65.
- Rutter, Michael (May, 2012). Resilience as a dynamic concept. Development and Psychopathology, 24.2; pp 335-44.
- American Psychological Society: Road to Resilience. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx (cited September 10th, 2014)
