All About the 3 P’s of Emotional Resilience: (Tips on How to Build Resilience and Adjust Living an Intentional Life in the New Normal)

After two years of having to live around the circumstances of this pandemic, we cannot deny that we’ve all fallen into a space of fatigue.

💥 How have you been dealing with all the uncertainties?

💥 How have you been working on seeing things in a different perspective?

💥 Are you having a hard time making a system that is good for your wellbeing?

💥 Do you feel like there’s no light at the end of this hell already, that this, too, is how our future is going to be?

At some point, we lost a hobby, a job, and even a member of our family. We all lost two years of our life to this pandemic. Nevertheless, may we never get so tired to the point that it is already ourselves that we’re going to lose here.

This week I spoke with TED speaker and professor of psychology, Dr. Samineh Shaheem who shares a strategy she defines as the 3 P’s to help us in our current state and in navigating the invariable stressors in our lives. 

First- Don’t Personalize 

Whatever we’re going through, try not to only personalize it. There is an element of you, but it’s not only you. When we talk about a global pandemic, we need to have more of a community and non-personalized perspective. This is not a personal narrative; this is a collaborative community.

Second- Pervasiveness 

When we go through an adversity of this scale, it’s very important to be able to put it in the category that it belongs in so it doesn’t become pervasive and impact other areas of our lives.

For example, let’s say I have certain financial difficulties. If I allow that to become pervasive, I might allow it to impact my relationship- it may stop me from feeling like I want to exercise so I start damaging my health, I may make the wrong choices in terms of substance abuse, and so on, I become a little bit more recluse, and I let that particular adversity then impact other areas of my life.

Final- Permanence

We have a fantastic expression that says, “This, too, shall pass.” and oftentimes, when we are in a particularly difficult situation what happens is our brain fools us into thinking that this is eternal now, and it’s a survival mechanism, right? 

We think that, “Oh my goodness, this is going to be my future. This is going to be how I’m going to have to live forever.” And to remind ourselves that, “Look. How many other circumstances similar to this or perhaps challenging in different ways came and went, and I was able to utilize my skill set, my attitude, my thoughts and behaviors to move forward from that.” And it’s important to use that as an anchor.

I hope this newsletter has found you at the time you need the reminder and support. Here’s to a great rest of your week! 

Xx,

Dr. Adrienne