Resilience Tips: Give to Get Resilience

Posted on June 16, 2021 by LeadingAge

Featuring Dr. Alyson VanAhn from Associated Clinic of Psychology

Do you know some of the quickest ways to get resilience have to do with giving a tiny bit yourself? Research shows that gratitude and acts of kindness not only impact others positively, but they give you a boost of goodness, sometimes for months. Goodness here means energy, reduced stress, improved overall well-being, including physical and mental health!

Here are a few ways you can practice these quickly and easily for your benefit and for that of your teams and families:

• Before going to bed at night, review two things for which you're grateful. You can write them down or think of them. It helps your brain end on a good note for better sleep and less stress starting your following day.
• Share a simple act of kindness with someone in your life: open the door for them, let them go before you in line, bring an extra soda to lunch and offer it to a colleague. Maybe even do a task that saves a coworker time. You can also give praise and compliments to boost your resilience. It's free!
• For whole team interventions and to impact resilience in your care center, post a board where others can write kind words of encouragement, compliments, what went well that day. You can even try this at home to spread the goodness.
• For a bonus, commit to one of these and try it for a week or a month. Then, make it part of your routine.

During these times, you may feel exhausted and overwhelmed, despite some positive news about COVID’s reduced impact in our facilities. For more information about stress relief during COVID-19, go to www.leadingagemncoaching.com.

You can arrange virtual staff support groups at no charge through LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation's COVID-19 Staff Coping & Support Line project. Contact Terri Foley at tfoley@leadingagemn.org or 651-815-8137.