Resiliency

HOW TO DO YOU FLOURISH NOT JUST SURVIVE CAREER/LIFE TRANSITIONS?

I consider myself a very resilient person who has experienced a significant amount of changes throughout my career and life. I left Ireland in 2003 and moved to Australian and created a new life, which was a huge transition. Since 2012, I have been on an adventure of constant change and transition in my career and life that has challenged me to my very core.

In 2012, I left a permanent fulltime job due to health issues; I was burnt out and stressed out after years of working in a demanding job and studying my Masters in Career Development.

This began a self-discovery journey of health and wellbeing, I made my health a priority for the first time in my life and started to listen more to my heart than my head.

These experiences made me highly resilient in overcoming these obstacles. Without these challenges, I wouldn't have experienced such significant growth and development. I've successfully overcome these obstacles, which has allowed me to grow into the person I've always wanted to become, a successful, powerful and confident woman who can achieve anything I set my mind to! 

During all these challenges I started my own small business Career Craft, coaching women through career and life transitions and focused on more meaningful work. Things were going well, my health improved and my business was doing well, life was back on track! Until 2016, I made another big transition when I made the decision to move home to Ireland after living in Australia for 12 years and then to London where I am currently living and working as a Career Transition Coach.  I moved three countries, changed jobs and moved house all within three months so I had to learn how to embrace change and transition. 

SO, HOW DID I DO ALL OF THIS AND REMAIN RESILIENT?

First of all, I wasn't resilient all the time and I had some challenging days but I learnt that's part of the change process, allow yourself to have down days. However, I learnt over the years how to bounce back to a normal state of functioning in challenging times. First of all, I learnt not to resist the changes that were happening to me. What you resist persists, if you can't change a situation; change the way you think about it. I began reading about change, the cycles of change and resiliency, which helped me to make sense of and understand what I was going through.  I also reached out to my support network, my close friends, family and colleagues. I made an effort to see people even if I didn't feel up to it sometimes but always felt better after I had a chat with a friend or family member. I was honest if I was having a bad day and I found talking through things helped. I learnt very quickly who were my true friends and learnt to surround myself with the right people who were there for me. I also started working with a Coach and started a course called Thinking into Results who has helped me work on my mindset and has helped me achieve so much in a short space of time. The course not only offers amazing knowledge but also a fantastic network of like-minded people.

WHAT IS RESILIENCE?

It is the ability to cope with whatever life throws at you. A resilient person works through challenges by using personal resources, strengths and other positive psychological capital, such as hope, optimism and self-efficacy.

HOW DO I BECOME MORE RESILIENT?

Being resilient is not a personality trait but an ongoing learning process, a skill that anyone can learn and develop. An important lesson in becoming more resilient is changing how you think about certain situations. The following outlines all the ways you can develop resiliency.   

DEVELOPING A MINDSET THAT FOSTERS SUCCESS

The only person who has control over your thought process is you. Begin by giving yourself time to accept the change to adjust and understand there will be a period of change and managing this transition. Self-care and being kind to yourself through this process is really important. Do things that bring you joy and help you relax and reduce stress. Sometimes our best ideas and inspiration will come from a period of deep relaxation.  This is also an opportunity to take some time to reflect and think about your next steps, focus on making progress in terms of moving forward rather than putting pressure on yourself to achieve too many big goals. Remember you have the power to change your situation at any time, so if you're not happy with the results you are getting in your career or life change them or at least change how you think about them.

IDENTIFYING AND LEVERAGING YOUR STRENGTHS

Several strengths are associated with happiness, which in turn is a helpful state of mind to become more resilient. Science shows that consciously embracing moments of daily life and being fully present, mindfulness leads to increased happiness. "The good life is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification", Martin Seligman.   

LEARN TO PERCEIVE OBSTACLES AS CHALLENGES

Learning to see obstacles from a different perspective is key to managing change and being resiliency. When times are tough it is easy to lose hope and optimism, but by using your strengths you are ensuring greater vitality, motivation and clearer sense of direction, confidence, productivity and goal attainment.

So in conclusion, we all experience change and challenges, but what matters is how we perceive these transitions, we can learn to respond and not react and see these experiences as unique opportunities to grow and we might even exceed our wildest expectations.

Are you going through a career/life transition? Do you want to become more resilient? Get in touch with Sylvia at Calm Minds Hypnotherapy for a free 15-minute consultation and be empowered to take the next step and manifest your dreams.