I did say that I would write a blog piece about A->B->C (how our beliefs about and activating event cause our reaction/consequences) but I had this conversation with a fellow coach yesterday and I think it is a really important point, so I’m bumping ABC to next week! I am very passionate about wellbeing and educating and enabling people to take care of themselves. I was talking about my ongoing work in developing a Resilience workshop that will be on offer for both private individuals and as a corporate event. Resilience is quite a complicated piece because whilst there are many things that contribute towards being able to bounce back from life’s pitfalls, there is no single surefire way of making you resilient. However, there are plenty of things you can do but the point is this. To make yourself more resilient, you have to take action before your reserves are called upon. We know this is a physical training sense. I do amateur triathlons and half marathons (or I do when I’m not injured!!) and the amount of training versus time spent on the event is approximately 25:1, without including cross training hours. And I don’t train as much as most of my fellow competitors which is why my race time is slower, so their rates are, conservatively, probably closer to about 30:1. And that’s just over a 3 month period. We build all the reserves and strength ready for the day we need them. But we don’t always do this for other events that cause us to call on our reserves. Admittedly, we have no idea when they will happen, but let us be bleakly honest here. At some point in the next few years we will probably all have to deal with at least one of the following: serious physical or mental illness ourselves or within our family, job/career uncertainty, relocation, emotional crises such as losing a friend or partner, death of someone we know or death of someone close to us. That isn’t a pessimistic view, that is reality. We know that events happen that cause us to have less time to take care of ourselves. And the time to prepare for these is when we are feeling great. For instance, how many of us know that meditation is a great way to calm our minds and use it on an ad-hoc basis when we most need it? 🙋♀️ And how many of us use it on a regular basis to build a capacity for greater calmness in times of trouble? Yeah, not me either. When we have a bout of flu, we go to our lemon and ginger tea and up our vitamin intake, but how many of us keep that up when we feel well? We know that vitamin C can help our immune system. But many of us ignore that fact until we start to feel unwell. There are probably a hundred examples of self-care that we use as a prescription for when we feel we need it. But we rarely use these as a preventative measure or as a way of building energy or emotional reserves. Years ago I came across this gorgeous list (if you are or know the author please let me know so I can attribute correctly) that is a great starting point for the things that build us up. What I would recommend is make your own list
and do these things when you feel like you don’t have to. Starting a meditation/15 minute walk/balanced diet routine when you’ve just had awful news is way harder than sustaining a habit you have already built. I’d love to hear what your top activities are that make you feel good and ready to tackle the world. And I would really love to see any doodles about it! Use #brightrebellion on any social media to share with everyone else. That’s all for now, rebels, but please do take some time to take care of you.