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RENEW - Resilience Providing simple tools to help renew you in a post COVID-19 world

What is Renew?

As we all navigate the pandemic and look to rebuild a sense of normality, routine and restore our lives that are potentially very different from before, it is important to remember that each one of us will have been impacted by COVID-19. Our wellbeing, our mental, emotional and physical health will have been impacted.

Renew is a series of short development sessions designed for adults which you can do when and how best suits you. It has three key parts: an overview to Learn about the theme, some key content to Engage with; video, blog or something else and then something to Practice to help you develop the tools and skills needed to renew you. Each session should take no more than 30 minutes.

LEARN | ENGAGE | PRACTICE

For more information about Phase, who we are, what we do and why we are passionate about helping you to have the tools and skills needed to navigate this new normal, then visit our website phase-hitchin.org

Learn: Resilience

What is resilience and why is it important?

It is our ability to cope with challenges, changes, difficulties, stresses and things that stretch us mentally, emotionally and physically.

Resilience is our abilty to cope with the ups and downs of life, it is the capacity to adapt and have a flexible mindset to overcome adversity, failure, difficulties and any other challenge life throws at you.

Resilience is needed as each one of us will face a challenge at some point in our life from an argument with a sibling, friend, colleague or that person who took your place in the queue to greater challenges of loss, bereavement, failure and other such things. When we have good resilience we are able to bounce back, it does not mean that we are invincible, but we are able to stand again to face another day.

Resilience is not finite, it is much like a muscle that we can grow, we can develop. It is not a skill that we are given a certain amount of but a skill that we can flex, exercise and build daily.

While part of resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity, the term ‘bouncing back’ can suggest a quick, rapid, effortless and easy return from the difficulties faced. However, this is often not the case and often suffering and struggle are experienced in forging resilience. It is important to understand the process which happens, the circumstances and the growth which can come as a consequence of the process.

Highly resilient people are flexible, adapt to new circumstances quickly, and thrive in constant change. Most important, they expect to bounce back and feel confident that they will. They have a knack for creating good luck out of circumstances that many others see as bad luck. Al Seibert

Engage

A key aspect to our Renew programme is engaging with key content to make you think, question and explore the theme.

Here is a great TED talk by Resilience Researcher Lucy Hone, she explores three key strategies that resilient people employ to overcome challenges and adversity no matter how big.

This TED Talk is 16 minutes long.

Key questions to consider from Lucy's TED Talk:

  • Do you have a realistic mindset and view of the world?
  • Where are you focusing and giving attention?
  • What are you doing to harm or help yourself?

Practice

"The future depends on what you do today." ― Mahatma Gandhi

Putting into practice key actions enable you to build your resilience and equip those around you to do the same.

Gratitude Journal: use this template to capture 3 things each day that make you grateful. Gratitude is a key aspect that not only builds resilience but improves

What brings me joy: Being aware of what helps you, what gives you joy, what refreshes you is extremely important to equip you in times of stress. Writing it down helps to commit to memory, like an athlete preparing for a race, you are ready to use it when it’s needed.

If you want to think more

Want to know more? Here are some extra resources to engage with.

Credits:

Created with images by Casey Horner - "untitled image" • Julia Kutsaeva - "untitled image"