There are hundreds of things in life that piss us (okay, many of us) off. To feel a little less stressed and tense all the time, you can try to build emotional resilience. As you’ll see below, the process itself is actually very fun!
What’s Emotional Resilience and Why Do You Need It?
Emotional resilience is a skill that helps us do many useful things:
- deal with problems (without getting pissed)
- find happy things in our regular lives
- feel more confident after failures.
In other words, thanks to emotional resilience, life gets less tough. Without it, in turn, stress often takes over. We react impulsively and make decisions we later regret. That is, emotional resilience isn’t just about feeling better — it’s about being better at handling everything life throws at you.
5 Fun and Unobvious Ways To Develop Emotional Resilience
Play Games That Challenge Your Mind
Yes, playing games can make you more emotionally resilient (hooray!). When you play, especially those games that require strategy, focus, or even those online bCasino games, your brain learns to stay calm under pressure. Why? Games simulate challenges that force you to adapt, react, and keep going, even when you’re losing. Every time you “die” or mess up and try again, you’re practicing emotional resilience. Plus, it’s a lot more enjoyable than sitting through a self-help seminar, right?
Build Optimism with a Daily “Silver Lining” Exercise
The biggest delusion ever is that optimism comes naturally for someone — you either have it or lack it. That’s not so (luckily for everyone!). Optimism is something you train.
Now, here’s a cool “silver lining” exercise. Every day, write down something that didn’t go as planned. Then, find at least one positive outcome of it, no matter how small. Missed the bus? More time to listen to your favorite podcast. Don’t roll your eyes, but give it a try. This exercise teaches your brain to search for the upside. Thanks to this, you may feel better even when something goes wrong.
Meet Up with Your Friends (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It)
Of course, the last thing you want to do when you’re feeling down is socialize. But that’s exactly why you should! Friends are like emotional energy drinks (without the sugar crash). When you meet up with people you trust, you’re reminded that you’re not alone. This gives you a break from focusing on your stress. Plus, you’ve heard it many times, but it’s so true — laughter is a huge stress-buster.
Build an Internal Locus of Control
Internal locus of control means believing that you have control over your life and outcomes (its opposite is believing that everything is up to fate). What’s fun about that? The way you feel when you have an internal locus of control. The next time something goes wrong, try reframing it as a challenge. Pretend it’s a game where you have to figure out how to “win” by turning things around.
Let’s say your boss throws an impossible deadline at you. Treat it like a puzzle. What can you do to manage the situation? Small wins will build your confidence, and suddenly, life feels a little less out of your control — and more like a quiz.
Treat Yourself (Seriously, It’s Important!)
The worst thing (one of them) about stress is that it drains resources, including emotional ones. So, if we want to build emotional resilience, we need to learn to cope with stress. There are many ways to do it, of course, but if we are speaking of the fun ones today, the answer is to … treat yourself.
That is, all you need to do is find time every day to do something purely for you. Make (or buy) a fancy cup of coffee. Take a bath. Read or watch something entertaining. This way, you remind yourself that you deserve care and attention, too.
Okay, a long list like this may sound stressful in and of itself. But you don’t have to apply ALL these strategies at once. Choose one or two that look suitable and enjoyable for you. Even the fact that you are reading this is already a big step to building emotional resilience. So congratulate yourself and keep discovering what works for you best!
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