Resilience
What is RESILIENCE?
I love this definition by MaryRuth Ghiyam:
“Resilience is the ability to grow and adapt in the face of trauma, adversity, change or stress. It’s the capacity to power through a difficult experience and come out on the other side altered but still thriving.” (Ghiyam, 2021, p 262), emphasis mine.
How resilient are YOU? We know from research across the decades that stress increases injury risk (Noh et al., 2007) and that an optimistic outlook improves career success and fulfillment in independent dancers (Aujla 2015 ). Based on this, it is of great value to dancers to consider the impact RESILIENCE might have on their wellness and on longevity in their art. Dancers with resilience are able look at an isolated episode of disappointment or failure and separate it from their identity (Teaching Resilience, 2018). These are individuals who recognize that it’s OK to make a mistake, can OWN it where they were responsible, and can FIND A SOLUTION . They can regulate their emotions, demonstrate effective coping skills, and lean on social support when needed. However, this DOES NOT mean that there is an absence of emotions! On the contrary,
“People with resilience do not experience less distress, grief or anxiety than other people do. Instead, they use healthy coping skills to handle such difficulties in ways that foster strength and growth, often emerging stronger than they were before.” (How Resilience Helps You Cope With Challenges, 2022)
There are four types of Resilience, as identified in the above article:
Physical Resilience: bouncing back from physical stressors. Our lifestyle impacts this ability.
Mental Resilience: being flexible, calm and maintaining a focus on problem solving
Emotional Resilience: able to regulate emotions, can maintain a sense of optimism
Social Resilience: the ability of individuals in a group to connect and work together to recover as a community
Can we nurture or foster resilience within ourselves? The answer is YES!
Although the ability to remain composed in the face of adversity can be a personality trait, we CAN influence our physical state, mental health and environment, and we CAN seek out social support to increase our resilience. Some tips from “The Very Well Mind” (see reference below):
REFRAME negative thoughts
SEEK support
FOCUS on what is within your control
MANAGE stress.
I’d like to finish with yet one more quote that truly sums up the value of resilience for anyone focused on improving their performance. It’s a great admonition from an article in “The Training Journal”:
Achieving high levels of performance means being curious and open minded to the possibilities that exist no matter how challenging a situation can become. It means building the adaptability and creativity that allows a flexible and adaptive response, thereby enabling the optimal outcome to be achieved.
Resilience then is a way of responding to challenges that is outcome driven, that sees challenges as opportunities to refine and develop solutions and capabilities that enable ever higher levels of performance to be achieved. (Resilience Is About High Performance, 2020)
May you continue to see challenges as opportunities!
References:
Aujla, I., & Farrer, R. (2015). The role of psychological factors in the career of the independent dancer. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 1688. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01688
Ghiyam, M. (2021, June 8). Liquids till Lunch: 12 Small Habits That Will Change Your Life for Good. HarperOne.
Noh, Y.-E., Morris, T., & Andersen, M. B. (2007). Psychological Intervention Programs for Reduction of Injury in Ballet Dancers. Research in Sports Medicine, 15(1), 13–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438620600987064
Teaching Resilience. (2018, September 26). Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://www.thepointeschool.com/teaching-resilience/
How Resilience Helps You Cope With Challenges. (2022, March 30). Verywell Mind. Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-resilience-2795059
Resilience is about high performance. (2020, December 1). Training Journal. Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/opinion/resilience-about-high-performance#:%7E:text=around%20the%20storm.-,Achieving%20high%20levels%20of%20performance%20means%20being%20curious%20and%20open%20minded,capabilities%20that%20enable%20ever%20higher%20levels%20of%20performance%20to%20be%20achieved.,-It%20is%20a
