Resilience

Resilience is a word I have heard a lot as in the past 6 months.

Resilience is essential for well-being. One of the areas that is hard to detect the erosion of well-being is mental health.  On one side of the spectrum is someone who is capably dealing with a huge workload but their very strength is making them lose resilience.

This capacity to deal with huge workloads may impact on their ability to continue to be effective as successive peaks of workload leads to an overload on their ability to cope.

On  the other side of the spectrum is someone who has had patchy experience of workload leading to inability to deal with sudden rises in workload.

One of the notable things I have observed with successive managers I have worked under, particularly those that have been brought in to deal with crisis, is the ability to prioritise, plan and be flexible.   The extent of their success has been dependent on  the character and attitude of their support base.

I liken resilience to a rubber band that is stretched and retracted. There are certain repeated loads it can take before losing the ability to return to its normal state.

Our brain is the primary centre for the regulation and control of bodily activities, receiving and interpreting sensory impulses and transmitting information to the muscles and body organs.  For the body therefore, the brain is the equivalent of that rubber band that carries the load.

Both workplace events dealing with resilience that I attended gave graphic demonstration of the impact of stresses on the human body.

The triggering of the fight or flight mechanism with perceived threats were a central part of the discussions.  We are in an age where there are numerous calls on our attention.  This places an even greater strain on the body’s ability to deal with the fight or flight response.

We will talk more about resilience in future blogs.  Suffice it to say that relationships and discipline in planning play a significant part in the resilience of any individual.

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About The Author

Chuck

It all started with Eze (fondly called Chuck) fainting at the airport. When he regained consciousness, Chuck found himself in a mental hospital. He was diagnosed with Psychotic Depression. Over time, Chuck was diagnosed with a range of other mental illnesses with the final one being Schizophrenia. Unbeknown to him about this latest record on his medical files, Chuck carried on with day to day living over the next 14 years until he met Zoe. Over the next 4 years, Chuck and Zoe began a journey of faith to defy the odds of mental illness. Today Chuck’s medical records say NO MENTAL ILLNESS. He defied mental illness and is helping others do the same.

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