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When life gives you lemons…Bounce Back!

Have you noticed some people can endure breakups, deaths in the family, unexpected mayhem at work, and somehow come out of the storm looking like Olivia Pope, strutting in a room, glowing and repeating her classic mantra: “It’s handled.” There’s a part of all of us that wants to be Olivia Pope in those crazy crisis situations in our lives, but the reality is that when the veggie hits the fan, it can feel like the world is coming to an end!

Resilience is the key to our epic come-back, and is also in my opinion one of the greatest markers of health. We know bad things happen in life, it’s more a matter of whether or not you can weather the storm and how quickly you recover and get back in the game. The textbook definition of resilience is successful adaptation and swift recovery after experiencing life adversities. In shrink language: secure attachment (especially in childhood), experiencing positive emotions and having a purpose in life are three important psychological building blocks of resilience. Resilience can help protect you from various mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Resilience can also help offset factors that increase the risk of mental health conditions, such as being bullied or previous trauma. If you have an existing mental health condition, being resilient can improve your ability to cope. Below are a few ways you can boost your resilience and make an epic comeback from life’s challenges that will cause your friends and fam’s jaws to drop. If you are going to go through hell, may as well look like a goddess emerging from the flames! Xo Raw Girl

1. Heal Your Inner Child. For those of us (raises hand) who may have had crazy childhoods that left deep emotional wounds, part of creating resilience is to deal with our past trauma and rebuild our self-worth and self-esteem. For years I thought my traumas were resolved only to find out there were patterns repeating in my life that were a result of some past wounds that were still affecting me subconsciously. How do you work through this? Journaling is great, seeing a therapist can help to. If you can’t afford a therapist check out the book Self-Therapy by Dr. Jay Earley which can help you work through the same process on your own at a fraction of the cost.
2. Keep Your Immunity Up! When crisis hits, we immediately become more susceptible to disease or illness. That’s why its imperative we do not wait before the veggie hits the fan to take care of our daily vitamins and immune boosters. Vitamin C is essential, and taking a daily multivitamin can go a long way. Want more on the importance of vitamins? Check out this PAST POST.
3. Practice a Daily Mindfulness Ritual. Mindfulness has been show to decrease stress, reduce the likelihood of contracting a host of diseases, and can also assist with keeping the mind positive in times of crisis. When things get rough it’s easy to slip into that downward spiral of thinking, and what mindfulness can do is help us to pay less attention to that negative chatter that keeps us in negative Nancy mode. Some practices that can work wonders: daily meditation, yoga, Qi gong, walking meditations in nature.

4. Connect to a Higher Power. The Practice of organized religion is slowly becoming scarce in our modern world, as people seem to feel they don’t have time. The amazing thing about faith however, is that it can provide some assurance during times of crisis. Church communities or spiritual organizations with like minded believers can provide essential support when weathering life’s storms. In addition to this, many people fid that when they can give their problems over to God, stress reduces, and a deeper sense of peace and positive expectation emerges.