Lasting Resilience

In this time of forced slowing down, I’ve been thinking about more and more about how we spend our days.

This unexpected expanse of time offers some opportunity for reflection- not only on what we want life to look like at the end of our stay- at- home time, but also to evaluate how we spend precious minutes in between now and then. It’s a chance to build lasting resilience practices.

Last year, I coined the phrase “Aligned Engagement – Integrating Work + Life” as part of my work with clients (and myself) to find a way to more skillfully determine the most optimal version of vitality and well-being for each person.

So many of us were talking about how we were so overwhelmed with work and busy-ness that we’d forgotten what was truly important to us on a deeper level. We were all longing for a sense of resilience and vitality and a sense of deeper connection with ourselves and with others in our lives.

Many of us were just on the edge of burnout even then.

Many of us are there now, as well.

In this time of COVID-19, it’s become more of an imperative for all of us to safeguard resilience and actively practice strategies that support well-being. I use the term “Aligned” as a reminder to connect more intentionally to what’s most important- to what brings a sense of meaning and integration or wholeness.

“Engagement” signifies the deep commitment that’s innate in all of us to do well and to bring our talents forward in the way that honors our signature strengths.

We each bring our mix of strengths forward in times of crisis. For some of us, it’s kindness and gratitude. For others of us, it’s perseverance and bravery. Still others draw on hope and spirituality. There’s room for use of all your strengths in these troubled times and we may find a deeper reservoir of strength than we imagined possible just a few months ago.

For more information on finding your strengths, feel free to take the free VIA Character survey here