Who remembers the good ol’ days when climbing trees and playing on the street till dusk were a normal part of daily life? There were no text messages to respond to, no selfies to post on social media, and no new videos from your favorite stars to watch. Learning about life was done through the school of hard-knocks.
Fast forward a few decades, parents have been more and more protective of their children. The world is moving in a faster pace, news are always on, and updates from friends and families are almost instantaneous via social media platforms. All these progress have conditioned many young people to think that life is becoming more difficult and they must catch up with the rest of the world or be left behind otherwise. It put a lot of stress on their mental health.
However, there is always hope. Those who are able to develop resilience should have no major problem in navigating through life.
According to the American Psychological Association, resilience can be defined as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress – such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors.”
Resilience is a fundamental human characteristic but it is one that is largely learned through setbacks and adversity. Over-protecting children from life’s lessons has produced a generation that didn’t learn to cultivate this skill, or at least not to the extent now required by modern living. And there’s the rub. Today’s under-35s are actually experiencing double trouble because they are trying to navigate a faster moving, highly pressurised “always-on” world with reduced coping skills.
Resilient people are not immune to stress, distress or difficulty but they can deal with it. They are able to bounce back from setbacks and difficult experiences, they are not easily discouraged by failure, and they have the grit to persist in the face of challenges.
Comment below if you have learned a thing or two on how to deal with stress.
