This is the final day, and task, in the 5-Day Resilience Challenge. If you’ve followed this far then you have already several of the tools used routinely by highly resilient people. Use these ideas regularly and you’ll begin to radically shift your thinking to a more emotionally robust mindset.
Involve Others
Resilient people feel that they are connected with, supported, and understood by others. So they can reach out and ask for help or support when things are beginning to get on top of them. They know that they sometimes have to reach out and ask.
By contrast, people who wind up getting stressed often seem to think that everything rests on their shoulders. Either because they think that they are the only person capable of doing whatever it is they have to do, or that a task is their entire responsibility.
Either way, this often means that their soldier on believing they have limitless energy until finally, they burn themselves out.
Asking for help doesn’t mean begging or pleading, and it is nothing to feel ashamed of. Being able to ask is one of the things that makes resilient people resilient. They don’t have hangups about feeling useless or unworthy. If it is reasonable to ask for help or support, they do. And they don’t wait until the last minute when they can no longer cope!
By the way, asking others for help or support also validates them. It helps them to feel valued and included, which feeds back into your social connection with them.
Day 5 Challenge: Ask for Help
Review any situation you feel is challenging you. Apply the five steps in yesterday’s post Are there any parts of the problem where someone else could make a contribution? This could be practical help, guidance, or information. I know that people often don’t like to ask for help because they think that they “should” be able to manage. Or, they think that asking makes them look helpless. Resilient people don’t have such hang-ups. If they can lighten the load or make themselves feel better by reaching out, they do!
Make the Challenge Rewarding
This is the final task in the challenge, now your real work begins. Refer to these 5-Day Challenge pointers often. Then you’ll start to develop a new set of habits to build up your resilience. We’ll publish a visual infographic to summarise and help you tomorrow. Stick it somewhere where you’ll see it daily—your ‘fridge or the bathroom mirror.
To learn more about resilience see: Personal Resilience
