When you first read the title of this GearUp, what were your initial reactions? What experiences have you had that shaped your attitude toward the topic?
- I first thought the title of resilience referred to how difficult Turing can be for many people and how resilience can be culfivated. I've had experiences in college in regards to my engineering major that cultivated resilience as far as learning difficult things on my own.
What did you learn from reading the article? Did this change or affirm any attitudes and beliefs you hold?
- I learned that a lot of people who face resilience early in life either grow up with a bunch of issues or end up becoming super resilient to change as they grow up, and become better for it.
What value do you put on personal resilience? Why?
- I think resilience is extremely valuable. Learning and experiencing struggle puts many things into perspective and can improve response to external change. When someone struggles through difficult times, once the stress is reduced, everything becomes a bit easier. Its all about perspective and where people have come from to determine where they go in their new situations.
Consider Josh Spodek's premise that knowing about resilience is different than becoming more resilient. Identify 3 mental practices and behaviors that constitute resilience skills.
- Being mindful. When external stressors exist, identifying them and responding in a calm/collected manner is important.
- Dealing with stress in a healthy way instead of unhealthy. Making choices to exercise or be social when stressed is much better than using stress as a trigger to drink or engage in destructive behavior.
- Being positive and maintaining an internal locus of control. When you understand that good or bad things happen to you no matter what and that you are the sole person that determines how you react to them, things tend to become less stressful and you become more resilient.