Coaching Team Newsletters

Ten Ways to Handle Adversity

We’ve all experienced difficult times in our work or home lives, often through events and circumstances outside our control. But like great trees, humans grow stronger when exposed to powerful winds. Here are 10 suggestions for dealing with the hard times when they happen.

1. Take responsibility.

Assume an “I can do something” attitude rather than pointing fingers. If nothing else, you can control your own response to the situation.

2. Limit the focus.

Don’t let the problem become all encompassing. When you compartmentalize the difficulty, you can focus on a workable solution.

Resilience - Bouncing Back Boldly

Major disruptions are a "gotcha" we all experience at one time or another in our lives. For some, these hard times come frequently - the impact is overwhelming and recovery, if it comes at all, can be painfully slow. Others show resilience and are admirably able to glide through these times fairly easily, bouncing back to a normal life again quickly. Resilience - the strength required to adapt to change - acts as our internal compass so we can resourcefully navigate an upset.

When unexpected events turn life upside down, it's the degree to which our resiliency comes into play that makes these "make or break" situations an opportunity for growth. The good news is that each of us has the capacity to reorganize our lives after a disruption and to achieve new levels of strength and meaningfulness. In fact, life disruptions are not necessarily a bad thing because they help us grow and meet future challenges in our lives.

It's easy to feel vulnerable in the midst of chaos because of not knowing what lies ahead. But learning how to adapt during chaos strengthens your ability to meet stresses in the future. It's a lot like a bone that was once fragile or broken, and is now strong from being used.

So how can you learn to become more resilient?

Learning how to put closure to previous life experiences is often key for bouncing back. In addition, developing resilience depends on many factors. Let's take a look at 7 key characteristics of people who demonstrate resilience during life's curve balls.