The Best Resilience Counseling Strategies for Facing Life’s Challenges

December 12, 2021

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn broke her own Olympic record in 2021 clearing the 100-meter hurdles in the World Olympics in just 12.37 seconds, claiming the gold. “I did it. I did it,” Camacho-Quinn exclaimed.

Sure, time is important. However, it isn’t the number of hurdles to leap over to cross the finish line, it’s how successfully you clear them and leave them in your wake.

Camacho-Quinn exhibited not only perseverance in her efforts for the gold but also resilience. And as most of us realize as we endure life’s challenges–loneliness and depression, anxieties, and negativity–we often need strategies to overcome hurdles in our pathways.

When it comes to personal difficulties, emotional scars, and life’s hardships, the best resilience counseling strategies are what propels us forward even if we don’t feel like it.

The Definition of Resilience

Resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” In practical terms, resilience means being able to stand up to life’s challenges and make it through the other end. But that does not mean that you make it out completely unscathed.

There can be scars–sometimes physical, sometimes emotional–that you take with you. And although people typically think of scars as ugly or unsightly, they are the marks that add color to our lives, and they define who and what we are. The key to having resilience is to see each situation as a challenge instead of a hurdle. And also to conquer it head-on, whatever it is that comes your way.

How to Deal with Hardships and Overcome the Hurdles

The reality is that no one makes it through life without hardships. Some might have more tribulation than others, but no one has a wholly-simplistic and stress-free existence.

If we didn’t have those difficult moments that show us what we are made of, then we would never be able to recognize and appreciate the exceptional moments.

If you are experiencing a life crisis or simply going through a hard time, take heart and never give up. You are not alone.

Discover resilience by seeking the necessary coping tools and resources to get through life’s challenges. And if you stay in the moment, breathe deeply, and focus on the positive, you can overcome whatever life throws your way!

Facing Life’s Challenges No Matter What

When hardship happens, change your approach and action. It could be as simple as first taking a deep breath and continuing to breathe deeply. Restricting your breathing will only make anxieties worse, limiting your ability to reason.

Face life’s challenges with simple resilience strategies:

Think Positively. Nothing good ever comes from dwelling negatively. Try to think positively and imagine the best outcome by looking for the silver lining. Even in tough times, there are blessings to be found. For example, instead of focusing all your energy on your situation, consider reaching out to an old friend or someone who can relate to and understand you. Sometimes, you just have to look at simple ways to overcome life’s challenges.

Consider Every Failure as a Win! Failure is losing, right? Not necessarily. When you think of any historical figure who showed resilience, what they had in common was transforming what could have been a failure into a “win.” Failures exist in your life not to make you feel downtrodden and unlucky, instead to lift you and to understand your mistakes in order to prevent them in the future. Start by:
- Imagining a better outcome. When evaluating the failure, determine what goals could produce a winning outcome. Harvard’s Written Goal Study shared that “those who wrote their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write their goals.”
- Writing your goals and objectives. As you record your thoughts, determine specific actions and alternatives to produce a favorable future.
- Asking for help to hold you accountable for your actions. By sharing your goals with a friend or counselor, you’ll be able to track progress and success, eliminating future failures.

Gain Valuable Support for Facing Life’s Challenges. Studies show that people who have a good social support network experience less anxiety, depression, and feelings of isolation. In times of crisis, we tend to withdraw and shut the world out. But, unfortunately, that is when we need others around us most. Support groups are always available; you just have to do a bit of online research.

Foster strong relationships with influential and meaningful people. If someone is offering help, take it. There is no shame in leaning on people to do your heavy lifting when you aren’t able. It is the way that we are supposed to survive. And if you see someone who needs your support, reach out to them as well. The positivity that you feel when helping someone else through a rough time is emotionally beneficial for you, too.

Discover Your Escape. Everyone needs a place of refuge. When life is too much, you need a place to go to that’s your safe zone, your happy place, or just your outlet to reflect. For some, your escape might be:
- Participating in Aerobics or Yoga
- Walking
- Running
- Taking time in nature and the great outdoors
- Going to a unique destination or taking a day trip
Whatever you do, step back and away long enough to gain perspective. Carrying a heavy load around all the time without ever having a way to put down your backpack of hardships will only wear you out and make it nearly impossible to continue.

Take the time to take care of yourself and do things that make you happy. It isn’t selfish; it is necessary. The phrase, “You can’t take care of anyone if you don’t take care of you” is real. Find what eases your mind and schedule it in your daily calendar, just like you schedule things for everyone else. The best resilience counseling dives inside life’s challenges into real solutions and support.

The Best Resilience Counseling

Inside life’s challenges, there’s a lesson to be learned and advice from licensed professional virtual therapy counselors that can help. Within every heartache, there is a new beginning and something to take away. The way to be resilient is to learn a lesson from every negative experience that you have. The scars that you take with you do not mark you in a bad way. Scars serve as a reminder of how you overcame a battle and didn’t break.

You not only made it through; you made it through more robust and ready to conquer anything like it again with the necessary skills to make it an even less stressful next time

Be mindful… live in the here and now. Restore your peace of mind through mindfulness and techniques proven to reduce depression, concerns, and relapses. Mindfulness involves paying attention to our present-moment experiences (thoughts, feelings, observations of the outside world) without judging them. Experience mindfulness by:
- Meditating in a calm, quiet, and soothing space.
- Focusing on the present moment and doing so without judgment.
- Being free of any activities and simply being in peace.
- Letting go of the past and future, paying special attention to your mind, motivations, and the present moment.
- Gently care for your healthy mind, body, and spirit.

Don’t play the victim. Although it can be difficult not to feel sorry for yourself every once in a while, facing life’s challenges means not ever allowing yourself to be a victim. Overcome life’s emotions by being compassionate to and loving to yourself, not blaming others, and practicing gratitude for the good you have in your life.

Develop a strategy for handling your emotions. Bad things happen to all of us, but it is how we choose to handle them that defines us. Take the time to grieve, feel sad, even be angry. But once those emotions have run their course, set them free and turn all that energy into a positive force to persevere and move forward. If you stay stuck in your own grief or self-pity, then finding joy will be very difficult.

Don’t wallow in your sorrow. Finding your strength through self-help tools and virtual apps–like ChatOwl that offer professional therapy–while you await seeing a therapist in person will help you have a jump start on healing and restoring your joy.

Don’t be envious of others. Sure, some people have more abundance than you, but there are also people who are more unfortunate than you. If you are envious of how carefree everyone else’s life appears, then you see life as beyond your control or something that is controlled by fate.

With every new day, there is a new way to begin again and achieve your dreams. Resilience is a way of getting through the rough things in life and looking to the positive. There will be challenges in life no matter what you do, but the key is to focus on what you can do to make things better, what positive you can find in a situation, and what lessons you can learn from the not-so-positive things.

When struggling to get past hurt, loss, challenges, or hurdles in your life, ChatOwl virtual therapy is here to help.

We understand that everyone goes through tough times. It is what you do in those moments that defines who and what you are. Resilience counseling is what helps you to make it out to be a new, happier, blessed person.

ChatOwl’s virtual apps’ resilience counseling addresses how to navigate life’s challenges, hardships, and difficulties while accessing valuable virtual therapy resources to overcome all of the hurdles you face in life like a champion.

ChatOwl offers valuable professional counseling support. Try our free, virtual app today. We are here to help.