A place to start...

I’m going to be really presumptuous and tell you something I know about you, even though we may have only just met.

You are already pretty damn resilient.

You've lived through really hard, painful times and you're still here.

You've wanted to give up on so many things, so many times, and you kept showing up for at least some of them.

(The things you didn't stick out, you were brave and wise enough to relinquish).

There have been times you've wished someone would just come and rescue you. 

(No one did, and you still made it through).

Being human is hard in big and little ways, basically all the time.

But you keep doing it. 

You're already a lot more resilient than you likely give yourself credit for.

And still, cultivating our resilience is one of the best ways to resource ourselves in a world where we never really know how or when shit might hit the fan, just that invariably, sooner or later, it usually does. 

We’re living in the midst of climate collapse, multiple genocides, economic instability and political systems in most countries in chaos. Oh, and we only very recently survived a global pandemic.

Then… you’ve just got all your run-of-the-mill personal heartbreaks and challenges to contend with too. 

So, if you feel like the world is an insane, terrifying and EXHAUSTING place right now, you’re in good company.

But, whilst you can’t necessarily always plan for specifics, you can make sure that no matter what comes, you have the tools to be okay, even when your world (or the world) isn’t.

And, I want to be clear - when I use the term resilience, I don’t mean KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON, or frantically seek the diamond encrusted layer in every shit sandwich. 

Some times in life will just feel objectively terrible, and the best we can do is survive them however we can, with the resources we possess in that moment.

…Hopefully, at some point, we are able to see what we’ve gained or learned - perhaps it’s just that we’re stronger than we thought, that our community really does care for us, or an appreciation for what really matters to us. 

But, since my own existential crisis (which you can read about here), I’ve been obsessed with understanding how to survive through hard times with as little suffering as possible and live a meaningful, joyful life beyond (or even during) them.

I’ve spent this year travelling the world, asking folks from different cultures, belief systems and walks of life how they and their communities have done exactly this, and they’ve had some wisdom to share which has changed the way I walk in and view the world, so I reckon it could be really useful to you too.

So as promised, here are 7 ways to grow your resilience which I’ll be sharing more on soon:

Relinquish what’s not meant for you or no longer works

Know when to relinquish something and when to dig deep and carry on.

Practice relinquishing things with grace when the time comes.

Regulate your nervous system

Learn practical tools and techniques to get calm, and support others in doing the same.

What works for everyone might be a little different.

Maybe it’s exercise, talking things out, somatic practices, neurosciencey techniques.

The important thing is to figure out what works best for you.

Resource yourself

List and acquire the skills you need to feel better equipped for hard times

and remember the many, many gifts you already possess.

And remember, you don’t need to acquire every skill you might need all by yourself,

that’s where community comes in! (See below..)

Strengthen your intuition

Re-acquaint yourself with your gut instincts and learn to listen to the internal wisdom you,

like every other thing in nature innately possess. 

Community. Community. Community

Realise the importance of it, learn how to cultivate it, how to maintain it

and explore where there might already be some waiting for you.

Envision alternate futures

It’s hard to grow towards an inner or outer world we can’t imagine.

And there are some pretty amazing ways to do this,

from journalling and vision boards to hypnosis.

Take the time to experiment and find what works best for you.

Adapt to changes of state

Learn to flow around the obstacles you can’t move.

A personal note:

I really appreciate you being here. We’re navigating wildly challenging times, AND there is still so much beautiful life to be lived. It’s tough to hold it all sometimes but we’ll be doing that in this space, so if you find yourself particularly affected by anything you read here, please know you are welcome to reach out to me to continue the conversation at stephanie@greendial.earth.

I’ll be really glad to hear from you.