Grit and Grace Part 3: Resilience!

Grit, Grace, Resilience and the Venerable Woman

Now that you have learned about valor (courage in the face of battle) and persistence (keeping on keeping on), let’s talk about the impact of resilience on a gritty, grace-filled life. What is resilience, and more particularly, what is emotional resilience?

Emotional resilience is the ability to adapt to emotional challenges with courage and faith centered in our Creator.  Did you notice that emotional resilience involves courage- we’re back to valor, aren’t we? It also involves our core principle of faith in our Creator.  With faith in our Creator, we find ourselves considerably more resilient, and moving forward becomes much easier.

Emotional Resilience is helping yourself and others the best you can. One of my favorite phrases is “B- is good enough.” As a recovering perfectionist myself, I was aghast the first time I heard that phrase. B- was simply unacceptable to this A student! But as I embraced and continued practicing that compassionate B- mentality, I saw the truth in imperfection. It’s better to get it done less than perfectly than not to begin at all. This is one way we can improve the world.  

Perfectionism is all about protecting myself, making myself look good, and ensuring I am safe. While that is all good and fine, making the world a better place is stepping out of perfectionism and making life all about helping others. It is an outward energy instead of an inward one. When you focus in this outward, service-oriented way, you shift into that familiar compassion, mindfulness, and hope pattern, helping yourself and others in the best way you can.

Emotional resilience is reaching out for additional help when needed. Everybody needs a little help now and then. We need each other. Sometimes that’s a mentor or coach, sometimes a friend or partner. Remember that you can always reach out and get help from your Creator- just ask. There is an ever-present listening ear available to you 24/7. Reach out and get help when you need it. It’s part of being resilient.

Challenges are a part of life. When bad things happen around us, we still get to choose how we respond. Acting in the role of a creator instead of a victim means taking responsibility for how we react- even while facing challenges. While in a victim role, we may be tempted to blame others, make excuses, complain, find fault, or explode with emotion.

Being resilient involves recognizing these responses in ourselves, choosing to move back into a creator role, and making a conscious decision to create what we would really like to have happen and how we will behave to get there.

Resilience is like silly putty- you bounce, stretch, and bend with the challenges life offers. It’s a huge part of grit!

You are the creator of your life experience. With resilience, self-compassion, and a fair amount of grit, your creation will be extraordinary!

6 ways to become grittier:

1. Clarify your goals. … Join a mastermind group for real success.
2. Discover your interests. … try lots of new things, like our podcast.
3. Practice deliberately. … just keep on keeping on. 
4. Know your purpose. … learn to communicate with your Creator.
5. Practice optimistic self-talk. … Be sweet to yourself.
6. Join a gritty culture. Join us at the 50/50 Girl Club– we are venerable women of grit and grace. We’ve got you.

Venerable Women simply go to work. Don’t you do that every day? 

See- I told you, you were great. 

Here’s to a gritty, resilient week-

All my love

Beth