Resilience habits

Fifteen months ago 100% of my work with clients disappeared as we entered lockdown. Looking back at my blogs and my diary what I did was take care of my wellbeing, boosted my resilience and used the time as productively as I could.

As we enter a period of post pandemic recovery it is now that I can see how my wellbeing has benefitted from paying attention to actions that boost my personal resilience. And as my business starts to grow back I will be using the learning and experiences in my work.

This has been my recipe and I’d like to share what those actions have meant to me. Plus, I share at the end a real recipe I hope you’ll try.

What did I do? The answer is in the question. Doing is everything.

Taking care of personal wellbeing and boosting personal resilience

Walking from my doorstep. Long and short walks everywhere locally, inventing routes, finding paths to follow, spending time enjoying nature and the surroundings by doing things slowly, finding flora by using a wild flowers book to advance knowledge of their names.
Gardening. Planting and making things grow is therapeutic. I planted flowers from seed. Used weed pulling and digging. This year it has spurred me to leave a lot more space for vegetables which are doing well despite a cold May.
Making and baking. I’ve never bought fast food, always cooked fresh. I don’t have a freezer (on purpose) and buy local and often, so this last year I learned to make more interesting food, learned to make my own bread too. I’ve collected recipes including from friends to try. See one below.
Using nature’s bounty. Finding and foraging. Fungi are great when you know which ones aren’t going to kill you; picking elderflowers and turning them into cordial which has lasted me all year and made nice gifts.

Using time productively

I completed some training and made sure I kept up with developing myself. I have kept on learning. I chose what has been different and would keep me on my toes, sparking interest and ideas. Highlights were the Do Lectures Keyboard CEO, a positive psychology course with the College of Wellbeing and starting a Certificate in Counselling qualification. In between I’ve taken advantage of free webinars and tasters and read a book on neuroscience and learning by Stella Collins.

Talking and listening

As John Amaechi said, “you can’t pour from an empty cup.”

Particularly in the last few months, but definitely since lockdown began, spending time, even if for a few minutes, talking and listening to friends and family members has been so important. One of the pillars of resilience is asking for and giving support. It is a strong indicator of personal resilience. As we start to face change and post pandemic times ahead, re-enter working spaces and connect with colleagues face to face, we shouldn’t under-estimate the power of finding time in the day to take care of wellbeing by talking.

How does this all help my resilience and the wellbeing of others too?

I have resilience habits. By doing things, by focusing my thinking on what is going right and keeping active in my learning and development I have hard wired my neurons to form wellbeing habits that are part of my day. They’re my default setting.
I configure wellbeing into my coaching practice. I ask coachees how their wellbeing is and how they are making sure they develop and find ways to stick to good personal resilence habits.
Perspective. Part of being resilient is to have perspective, step back and see how things are not permanent. That good things happen even on a bad day. I have stronger more healthy relationships with people close to me and have shifted away from unhealthy ones as a consequence of taking perspective.

Tips for creating resilience habits

Creating a habit is not trying to be rid of old ones, rather re-routing your brain’s systems to create new ones. Repeating them helps habits stick.

Start with simple, small goals and small steps.
Talk to people and tell them what you plan to do. Putting it out there forces one to act.
It’s a flywheel: plan, do what works, review, change what doesn’t work, plan, do what works…
Go for a walk. Even if it is just around the block. It will clear your head, help break psychological state. Better still go for an awe walk. This is a walk where you focus consciously on nature, what you see and hear such as birds singing, what you ccan smell. Take photos. Immerse yourself.

And finally…..

Here’s my recipe for elderflower cordial. Enjoy.

Elderflower Cordial

Ingredients

2½kg white sugar, either granulated or caster
2 lemons and 1 lime
20 fresh elderflower heads, stalks trimmed
85g citric acid (from chemists)

Method

STEP 1

Put the sugar and 1.5 litres/2¾ pints water into the largest pan you have. Gently heat without boiling, until the sugar has dissolved. Give it a stir every now and again. Pare the zest from the lemons and lime then slice the fruit into rounds.

STEP 2

Once the sugar has dissolved bring the pan of syrup to the boil then turn off the heat. Wash the flowers gently to get rid of any dirt or bugs. Transfer to the syrup along with the lemons, lime, zest and citric acid then stir well. Cover the pan and leave to infuse for 24 hrs.

STEP 3

Line a colander/sieve with a clean tea towel or muslin sheet. Put it over a large bowl or pan. Ladle in the syrup – let it drip slowly through. Discard the bits left in the towel. Use a funnel and to fill sterilised bottles (run glass bottles through the dishwasher or wash well with soapy water. Rinse, then leave to dry in a low oven). The cordial is ready to drink straight away and will keep in the fridge. Or freeze it in containers or ice cube trays and defrost as needed.