Ways to "Bounce Back" From Stress

By building on your resilience skills

A healthy level of stress is necessary for best performance. However, it’s when stress interferes with our functioning, rather than advancing our functioning, that we begin to be more vulnerable to their harmful effects. Consider the example of having a project deadline at work. The resulting level of stress can be beneficial, in that it may cause an end to procrastination, faster work, a sense of accomplishment, etc. However, if you don’t apply your resiliency tools then the stress can be harmful: leading to feelings of helplessness, failure experiences, etc.

Resilience is an individual’s ability to ‘bounce back’, stay strong, or use effective solutions to handle life’s challenges. Using these coping or resilience skills can help when facing a range of problems, from every day stress to significant life crises. Some ways to cope successfully through frustration is by asking yourself these resiliency skills questions:

• What is stress and resilience for you?

• What are your main sources of stress and how do you manage them?

• What would it look like to manage stress and cope better?

• What’s preventing you from coping/succeeding/moving forward?

By answering these questions honestly and reflectively, you are able to see the patterns in how you deal with frustration. This allows you to create your own road map to better, more successful coping strategies in the future.

Answer these questions for yourself - you may be surprised how much you'll learn!