Soldiering can be a tough profession. It can be tough to manage additional responsibilities like parenting, attending college, maintaining a home, finances–basically, life. The past year has brought additional life stressors and separations from loved ones and it is important that we continue to check-in with ourselves, take a beat and understand how we are, or are not, coping. How will you not just cope or get by, but learn, grow and thrive? Resilience.
We are not born with resilience; however, we are all born with the ability to become resilient given the right environment and skills.
Resilience is a learning process. While experience can be a great teacher, studies have shown that individuals who go through some type of resilience training are better equipped to meet life’s challenges and exhibit greater coping skills which allow them to deal with difficult situations and problems, learn, bounce back, recover, and grow.
Resilience is not meant to eliminate your stress or erase life's difficulties. Soldiers who possess resilience don’t view life through rose-colored night vision goggles. They know setbacks will happen, and sometimes life is hard and painful. They still experience the mental and physical pain and feelings that can accompany difficult, stressful situations or a tragedy, but their mental outlook, their resilience, allows them to work through such feelings, tackle problems head-on, recover, move on with their lives, and thrive after facing adversity.
Understanding why having the tools and skills to be resilient is important is the first step to becoming more resilient. It is also important to know that you do not need to wait for a difficult situation or tragedy to come along to start learning. Your installation’s R2 Performance Center offers classes, workshops and individual training such as the Master Resilience Trainer (MRT) course, Engage Skills Training, and Executive Resilience and Performance Course (ERPC) which will provide you the skills necessary to become a stronger, more resilient Soldier and leader. You can schedule training today.
Who needs you to be resilient? Your nation, your unit, your Soldiers, and your Family.
Who needs resilience? We all do.
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