A couple of months back, we were living our lives normally, going out, working, meeting people, and following our normal daily routine. Till we got affected by coronavirus that turned into a pandemic.
And suddenly, our lives dramatically changed. We’ve been deprived of our normal lives. We’ve been confined in our homes and couldn’t get out as before. We got depressed and afraid that it might be the end of the world as we know it. Some of us got worried, some panicked, some lost hope, some surrendered and chose to do nothing, and some decided to be resilient and to pick themselves up.
Those resilient people decided to reconsider their lives, they started re-arranging their papers, and looked at the situation from a wider perspective. They started to value time more, they started reading some books that have been shelved for years, they started to figure out some hobbies they never thought about before, they reconnected with their beloved ones and valued their presence in their life.
What happened? How did they change their minds? Why havent’t they lost hope?
The simple but serious answer is “Resilience” …
But what is Resilience?
In a human context, “the ability to bounce back” or “to withstand and adapt to changed or shocking situations”.
In a scientific context, “resilience correlates with elasticity or the capability to bounce back into shape and form following the application of external pressures”.
The idea of being able to withstand and recover from an external pressure or impact is a cornerstone to resilience. External pressures may include disasters, crises, stresses, disruptions, and setbacks.
A pandemic is an ideal case of an external pressure, and this is where the role of resilience comes in.
The question is: How can someone be resilient? A simple yet effective model named “Resilience Building Model” has four stepped activities as shown below:
Acceptance → Reframing → Planning → Execution
Acceptance
Once we experience an external pressure or situation, we must start to accept it, and get along with it and think about how to deal with it. How many times have we rejected an unfortunate incident or surrendered to the status quo? Did it help?
When we accept the situation, we begin to investigate it in a great detail, realize certain patterns about solutions that we can do to get ourselves past the situation. Don’t become a victim of the situation. And don’t try to fight it. Rise above it.
Reframing
After we accept the situation, we should direct our minds to reframe it, that means seeing the situation from a different perspective. The common saying “a half-empty cup is a half-full cup” is valid. Instead of whining about the situation, look at it from a different angle, “a cone can be seen as a triangle from one side, and a circle from another”. Educate your mind to see things differently, this will reflect on your way of thinking and your behavior. You will start taking control of the whole situation and decide to get the best out of it.
Can you look at this down time as an opportunity to do things you have’t been able to do previously due to the lack of time, and the fast-paced life we’re living?
Planning
The third step is planning, where you need to start writing down a SMART plan (that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-oriented). The plan should neither be complicated nor long, it has to be concise and to-the-point.
How many books do you want to finish? How many goals have you been postponing that you want to start working on? Do you want to get fit? Do you want to go jogging? Do you want to spiritually elevate yourself? Do you want to quit smoking? Do you want to start painting? Do you want to learn cooking? Do you want to start writing like I’m right now writing my very first article? What is it that you’ve been always wishing you could do? Whatever that is, write it down.
Execution
The final step is to execute the plan, where you take actionable & simple steps to achieve it. You can plan to change your career, or to transform your business to digital & online platforms, you can decide to take the French or German classes that you kept postponing year over year, you can reinforce a hobby that could become your side hustle, you can start reading the pile of books that have been collecting dust on your shelf.
Remember, this is not a pandemic, this is a pause. A once in a lifetime pause. A pause that we might never experience again, and hopefully not this way. This is not an excuse to postpone everything you’ve been longing to do till further notice, it’s a reason to do everything you’ve been postponing right now, or to do everything you’ve been already doing but differently. The whole planet is on hold waiting for you to do your thing, whatever that fills your soul, not to watch TV all day or complain about how staying home is so boring.
There will always be something that could keep you from going for what you want. There will always be another excuse. You can choose either to go for it, or add it as a new wish to your endless wishlist that you never check anything off it.
Everything shall eventually pass, and a year or two from now you will remember how much time you had during the pandemic; when you weren’t obligated to follow a daily routine or spend hours commuting. Time that you could have used but you watched slip away, and decided to stand still or just whine about it.
By choosing to be resilient, we start to look at things from a different & positive point of view, and decide to get the best and most out of any situation. Accept it, reframe it, plan your way through it, then execute.
About the Author
Wael Ahmed is a Seasoned Engineer, a Business Development Professional & a Data enthusiast, who has experience for more than a decade on delivering & expanding businesses in MENA region. He is passionate about KPIs & Business Metrics, and how data can be used to deliver strategic business decisions and elevate people & systems’ performance.
