Building Resilience In The Face of Crisis

The pandemic is nothing we have ever seen. It has upended our lives in ways unimaginable.

More than we realize, life events continuously change and most of these come without any warning. Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher said, “the only thing that is constant is change.” Things are always changing but learning how to navigate through changes can help us cope better. This is when we can better practice resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and failures. It is not a trait that you either have or do not have. The good news is, it involves thoughts and actions that can be honed.

Sun Life Philippines has recently launched a campaign to empower Filipinos to rise above Covid-19. Dubbed “Rise Together to a Bright New World,” the campaign promotes initiatives ranging from online financial literacy sessions to digital tools geared to help Filipinos to emerge from the pandemic stronger, healthier and financially resilient.

“While there is still much uncertainty as our country continues to deal with the pandemic, there are steps that they can take now to make sure they and their loved ones can look forward to brighter days,” Sun Life Chief Marketing and Client Officer Mylene Lopa said.

And here’s how we can build resilience:

Embrace Change

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be better at handling unforeseen events while some appear to come undone?

This doesn’t mean that they play down the severity of the crisis but instead they accept the circumstances they find themselves in so they are able to move forward. When crisis strikes, they don’t dwell on the negative but look for opportunities that might be available to them. We often overlooked the fact that change can help us grow as better individuals.

Focus on the things you can control

No matter how foolproof our plan is, we’re never too sure how things will turn out. Take stock of the things that you can control and let go of those which you can’t. While we are on a pandemic, we can’t control whether we will fall ill to the Covid-19 virus or not but we can do everything within our means to stay safe and healthy.

We can’t control what life may throw at us but what we can control is our attitude towards each unexpected turn of events.

Seek help 

Even with the mandatory six feet apart social distancing in place, we can still build meaningful connection with others.

These days, there are many ways to conduct virtual meetings what with the numerous apps available to us. All we need is to reach out. We don’t have to cut ourselves entirely from the world while we’re on quarantine!

Life’s stressors can be better managed with a good network of friends and loved ones.

Bouncing back from any crisis is never easy but slowly integrating these strategies into your life until it becomes a habit may help keep you afloat whenever the going gets tough.