How do you rate your bounce back-ability?
Hi everyone,
I wrote in an earlier blog that by controlling our responses to situations we can influence the outcome, which is true, although it can take practice. But I think our overall bounce back-ability and resilience can have a big impact on how we handle situations too. If our energy levels are high then we’re more likely to give a kick-ass response, whereas if we’re feeling low on energy that will be more difficult. Our energy levels are influenced by a number of factors to include physical and mental health, how rewarding we find our work, our financial situation and accessing time to relax and recharge our batteries. All of those factors impact on our confidence and self esteem too, which are very much tied in with our resilience and ability to bounce back from difficult situations.
Our levels of confidence and self esteem are not something that we think about every day but maybe we should make that more of a priority in order to support our resilience. What do you think you’re good at? What do you family, friends and colleagues value about you? It’s not always comfortable thinking is it? Or it’s easier just to think “nothing”. Maybe you should ask them. Although that’s not always a comfortable conversation either. This is Britain! We don’t talk about things like that!!
I’ve added a link to a positive word list below which has 72 positive words on it. I’m hoping that you’ll be able to tick at least half of them to agree that those are qualities you possess or are things that you’re good at. If you’re struggling to reach a number over 30 then maybe ask a partner, trusted friend or colleague to look at the list with you as often they’ll be more focussed on your positive qualities than you are.
By building our confidence and self esteem and keeping focused on the things we’re good at (and one of those things might be your ability to bounce back, with tenacity and determination), we support and maintain our resilience which allows us to respond proactively and assertively to situations and influence the outcome. Keep looking at that list. If you don’t tick things, are you actually bad at them or do you just not need to be good at them? You don’t need to be good at something all the time in order to tick it – just a ‘I can be’ will suffice!
I’m not trying to turn everyone into egomaniacs who visualise high fiving themselves every time they do something well but a focus on what you’re good at is good, for the outcome of your day, your resilience and bounce back-ability, your confidence and self esteem and the support of others. So maybe print out the list, keep going back to it and challenge yourself to think “am I good at that?”. Because I reckon you’re really good at loads more things than you give yourself credit for 
Take good care and have a great weekend,
Best wishes, Karen