Six tips to boost your resilience

Sooner or later, we all face setbacks. It’s unavoidable. What you do have a say in is how you deal with these setbacks. It has everything to do with resilience. Here are six tips to boost your resilience. Hint: your vitality plays an important role here.

What is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to cope well with stress, setbacks and challenges. Although we can take charge of much of our lives, sometimes things come our way that we have little or no control over. The trick then is to accept the situation and recover from the disappointment as best you can.  

Resilience and vitality

Vitality is the strength with which you live your life physically, mentally and socially. A healthy diet, sufficient exercise, good sleep and enough relaxation all help with this. Vitality therefore has a lot to do with resilience. Because the better you feel, the better you can handle difficult situations. The six tips below all contribute to this.

1. Take care of yourself
Your own health is top priority. Try to stay as fit as possible by exercising regularly. Eat consciously and choose healthy foods. Create enough relaxation by meditating or reading a book, for example. If you feel good mentally and physically, you can cope better with setbacks.

2.  Develop your problem-solving skills
Are you facing setbacks? Then apply different problem-solving skills. Sum up the facts or contrast the pros and cons. Then view the problem from a different perspective and decide how you want to deal with it. This will help you look more at what you can change and will feel a lot more positive, no matter how negative the situation.

3. Accept the situation as it is
Sooner or later, everyone faces loss or grief. Realise that this is part of life and be at peace with it as much as possible. Are you angry or insecure? Try to accept your feelings. This too is part of life and will pass at some point.

4. Invest in your social network
When faced with setbacks, it is immensely nice if you can rely on family, acquaintances and friends. That is why it is important to invest in your social network. Consciously reserve time for your loved ones. If you are there for them, they will be there for you when needed.

5. Discover the positive in setbacks
Look for meaning in the crisis. Try to discover the positive in your setbacks. What did you learn from the situation? Ask yourself questions such as: ‘How did I develop personally?’ or ‘What did the situation bring me?’ By clarifying this, you will reinforce your personal growth. That too is resilience!

6. Work on your self-confidence and positive self-image
Were you let go at work or did you break up with your partner? When you believe in yourself, setbacks will often be less difficult. By continuing to work on your skills and competencies during good times, you will boost your self-confidence. This positive self-image will ensure that you can handle things when times are tough.

The beauty of it all is that resilience can be learned. Even if you don’t feel so strong right now. Applying the above tips will make you a little more resilient each time. See how it will benefit you!

How financially fit are you?
Besides a healthy life, you want a healthy pension. By staying aware of the pension market and react to it in a flexible way, we keep your pension in top condition. Do you already have a pension scheme with BeFrank? Then you can see how your pension is doing on your Personal Pension page. Here you will also find the most important updates. Do you not have a pension scheme with BeFrank yet? Ask your employer about the possibilities.