Building Personal Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Judith Rodin
Chair of the Board, Prodigy Finance | President Emerita, University of Pennsylvania
The NewYork Times and other leading media celebrate heroic stories of the resilience of health care workers and others serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deservedly, these brave and committed individuals should be featured. But as the days and weeks of social distancing roll on, everyone’s resilience is being challenged, even if in less life-threatening ways. The New York Post reports a huge increase in calls to divorce lawyers, stressed parents are juggling work (if they are lucky) and home-schooling or having adult children back home. Axios warns that virus vices are taking a toll on Americans, with alcohol sales up 55% and people eating more and exercising less. Domestic violence is skyrocketing and gun sales have soared. The Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index finds 43% of Americans surveyed saying their emotional well-being had declined in the last week. We are afraid of an unseeable enemy with no clarity about when the end is in sight.
When I wrote The Resilience Dividend, I focused on cities, institutions, and communities. And, after the Ebola crisis, my colleagues at The Rockefeller Foundation and I focused on how to build resilient health systems, which I will say more about in the weeks to come. But I am a psychologist and, since retiring from Rockefeller, I have been reading all the psychology and psychiatry research literature on individual resilience. Perhaps some of this will help you and your family.
First, resilience is not an innate trait. It is a skill that you can learn and sharpen. It is one you can and should be teaching your children, especially in these times. Two, there are actions and behaviors across several domains that you can develop during this or any crisis. Not all will feel right for you or the moment but try practicing as many as you can. These include:
- Self-awareness These are horrible times and understanding and honoring your feelings and those of others is critical. Increasing your mindfulness builds resilience.
- Goal-setting and problem-solving Even small goals achieved or problems solved, create a purposeful sense of accomplishment that builds resilience.
- Perseverance is related to number two. Keep working at something, whether a project, a puzzle, any challenge.
- Activating positive support This takes outreach and compassion, for yourself and others
- Reflection and story-telling Building positive narratives, remembering great moments, and creating future happy scenarios all contribute to your resilience skills.
Building resilience now will make you stronger during the crisis moments, activate your capacity to rebound more quickly and effectively from this or any crisis, and build your potential for transformation. The wish to return to “normal” is a profound and understandable desire at this moment. But, with greater resilience skills also comes the capacity to build something even better and stronger than normal, for your life, your community, your world.
Owner: Jacqueline Wheeler Tuition Ltd
4 年I couldn't agree more. As the parent of two older teenagers, I was surprised at the out pouring of sympathy I heard for this age group, one person saying to me "They'll never have this summer again". But, much as don't want this horrific situation - and one of my dearly loved parents is in a care home with three suspected cases of Covid - I think this generation and mine needs this experience. I have been really shocked by the rising levels of depression among teenagers, and concerned that we over-validate "stress" and "anxiety". In the absence of battles to fight in the real world, and with so much attention given to the whims of youth, it seems like adolescents and young adults are waging war on themselves through self-harm and eating disorders. In fact, this terrible crisis seems almost to be here to wake us all, to remind us we need to be strong and that we need to see that life is, on the whole, something we will always need to grapple with but that there is pleasure in taking this on, emerging with something on the other side that may be at best, the knowledge we survived and will survive the next time, although that is a pretty good "at best".
The Leadership Scholar with International Educational and Cultural Expertise
4 年Thank you so much, Clancy Gabriel, for your liking my comment!
Developing Leaders, Building Teams, Transforming Cultures | Consultant and Facilitator
4 年Building resilience in yourself, your family, your community and your workplace is always very important but in this time of COVID-19 it has become critically important. Thank you for sharing your wisdom,Judith Rodin
Chief Reinvention Officer | Resilience Expert | Reinvention Coach
4 年Thanks for this Judith Rodin. These strategies resonate with my experience. I believe that resilience is also built by helping and supporting others, leaning on intrinsic strengths we have already used in previous challenges, and engaging in any activity that promotes positive emotions and relaxation - laughter, singing, dancing, other physical activity are examples.
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4 年I agree personal resilience is a skill, one my parents taught through example and the simple question. What are you going to do now? They did expect an immediate answer even if it was not a great answer or the actual action you take, it starts the process of thinking ok what can I do now. For me that process begins every day and on a good day the answers are easy get out of bed , have coffee, read or watch the news. On a tough day it's much more difficult however I've found that if I go to a routine and work out from there all things are possible even if only in ideas right now.