September: the month to re-boot resilience

It started with Brexit, followed by a Pandemic, a war in Europe, and now an energy and economic crisis loom as we enter the last quarter of the year. It’s time to re-boot our resilience and September is a great month to do that.

September always seems to have a ‘fresh start’ feeling to it, arising out of many childhood years of new terms with new shoes and uniforms, new books, and new teachers, causing some anxiety yet excitement too. Such deep emotional programming makes September an excellent time to focus on new projects or new directions and set an intention to get through troubles. Our new prime minister, Liz Truss, will be very much feeling this way, and in order to do the job she has in front of her, will need resilience in bucket loads. 

A September re-boot to boost resilience

So how can this blog help? Let’s use this deep-rooted feeling to boost our resilience, to re-boot new possibilities in our own lives separate from what is going on in the wider world. What is important to you and your community, and what do you value and want to happen in your world? New beginnings bring a sense of anticipation rather than the dread currently in the foreground.

This is an opportunity to focus on what is in your control and find happiness in the small moments of success that we often overlook. It is helpful to remember that happiness isn’t an emotion that ceases to exist in times of crisis; it’s an emotion that will help us cope with feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. This is resilience in action, and we can pool its three key ingredients, as identified by research, together with the energy of September to help you get through these trying times.   

Three key ingredients of resilience

Tuning into the good

Carefully choosing where you put your attention is a really effective counterbalance to the negative bias of apprehension and anxiety that we naturally have in times of crisis, says resilience expert Lucy Hone, ensuring we don’t ignore the moments of happiness and goodness that happen. This might be accepting a compliment from someone, being kind to a stranger, spending precious time with a friend, or attaining something you value, no matter how small.  

Our sense of wellbeing also grows when we tune into the good. Why? Because it fuels self-esteem and derails our inner critic that is responsible for giving us a negative news feed of its own, telling you that you’re not clever, attractive, nor good enough. Tuning into the good changes the filter that we often unwittingly have turned on, from unhelpful and negative, to helpful and beneficial; in psychology language, it’s called ‘benefit finding’. 

Slow down, look around and notice what is going well today.

Ask yourself “Is this helping or harming me?”

This leads me to the second key factor of resilience: the ability to check in with our thoughts and actions by asking these questions: “is this line of thought helping or harming me?” “is what I am doing right now helping or harming me?”.

Unfortunately, and especially when the world is struggling and we feel worried, anxious, or depressed, we often think and act in ways that make things worse. If we think we’re not good enough, we behave like we’re not; perhaps by not taking care of our health or appearance. If we are worried about finances, we might avoid getting to grips with them to avoid the feeling and fear of not having enough, instead of making a plan and seeking help.

Asking this question gives you some power and choice to change and address what you can in the best way that you can.

Life is tough at times

This brings me to the third important ingredient of resilience research: to accept that suffering is part of living. That adversity is common and tough things will happen to all of us; that this is the common humanity we share with every other person on the planet, so it’s not a severe shock when stress or bad times come along and we don’t feel it’s just us and ask ourselves “why me?”. In fact, compassion is born from suffering and through these crises, people will help each other. Yes, it’s difficult and tough, but we can and will cope, we will have good times still, and we will learn something of value and be wiser through this.

A thought to finish on

Humans have been on the planet for thousands of years and every person on the planet is descended from an early human, their genes passed down through millennia to the current day….how amazing is that! These ancestors too fought plague, war, and poverty, and they got through and we are here as evidence of that. The energy crisis will teach us to be resourceful and less wasteful and may end up being the real catalyst for sustainability and for helping the planet continue to host humans.

See our other articles on resilience, motivation, and environment & sustainability.