20 Tips for Building and Cultivating Your Resilience

Resilience is important for helping us face challenging situations in life. Fortunately, it’s possible to learn how to build resilience.

Many possibilities exist to describe how someone might be strong. By practicing the actions, behaviors, and attitudes that make you strong — and the ones you struggle with — you can grow your resilience.

For instance, some of us are skilled at keeping a cool head in any argument. Others are good at listening or maintaining a naturally positive outlook in the face of tough situations or speaking up when something’s not right. Whatever your resilience superpower may be — along with areas ripe for improvement — practice contributes to improving it.

Not sure where to start? Here are 20 suggestions to boost your resilience from Amit Sood, MD, executive director of the Global Center for Resiliency and Well-Being and creator of Resilient Option:

1. For minor annoyances, ask yourself: Will it matter in five years? If not, it isn’t worth disturbing your peace today.
2. Don’t allow others to lower your self-worth. Look at yourself with the eyes of the people who accept and love you unconditionally.
3. Spend quality time with someone who inspires you at least once a week.
4. Volunteer: It’s research-backed for promoting physical and emotional health and supporting longevity.

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5. Identify your purpose and strive to live your days in alignment with it.
6. Embrace your vulnerability and accept that it’s okay to feel sad sometimes.
7. You can’t know what every person is navigating, so keep a low threshold when it comes to offering forgiveness.
8. Be kind, especially to yourself. Kindness is a marker of strength, not weakness.
9. Prioritize gratitude, even for everyday events like a deep breath, the smell of coffee, the smile of a loved one, or the taste of water.
10. Instead of fighting the uncontrollable, creatively work with what is.
11. Make a not-to-do list to keep your days light, alive, and humming.
12. Immerse yourself in nature: Spend time noticing trees, birds, clouds, lakes, and rivers.
13. If there is not a lot going on, consider scheduling your worries instead of letting worries usurp your entire day.
14. Read good books and watch inspiring movies.
15. Sleep at least seven to eight hours every night.
16. Practice deep breathing and other forms of meditation on most days for at least 15 minutes.
17. Move your body.
18. If consuming the news is a source of stress, set a time limit to help you avoid doomscrolling.
19. Get up from the dining table a little hungry.

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20. Nurture your spirituality, and integrate it into your life.