Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties. After difficult trials in our lives, how easy is it for us to turn away? Will we give up, or will we show our own resilience and come back stronger than before?
This week’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker was Patty Hendricks, who is a curriculum designer for BYU-Idaho. She talked about trials in her life and what she did to stay strong. Hendricks outlined some key things that people can do to practice resilience. The first of these is to “build connections.”
“Don’t isolate during times of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant stress. Instead prioritize connections with people who genuinely care about you,” Hendricks said in her devotional.
She also taught that it’s important to foster well-being and focus on what you can do. The fourth thing Hendricks talked about was “showing up,” where all you have to do is “get out of bed and just show up!” Hendricks said. In an interview with BYU-Idaho radio, Hendricks said that this is the hardest step.
“A lot of time you just want to stay in bed. You want to just shut down and quit ... I get that. I have totally been there,” Hendricks said.
In her devotional she gave an example of a class that had a big assignment due. It was very difficult, and all the students had trouble with it. As a result, many of the students opted to stay home, missing class, and making an excuse not to turn in uncompleted work. The students who chose to go to class with their incomplete assignments were able to get help from the teacher and gain a much better understanding on what was expected from them. The students who stayed at home fell behind.
Her final step was to get help.
“So, please! Get help when you need it! That’s what smart people do,” she said.