Weekly Dose #010 How to Become More Resilient
We once believed that resilience is a fixed trait. You are either born with it or not. This belief is still held in the surgical community. We believe by definition, surgeons are resilient, otherwise they couldn’t be surgeons.
In today’s issue I’ll talk to you about how you can become more resilient.
But what is resilience?
Resilience is "the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress".
It is the ability to bounce back.
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”― Confucius
The Old World View
We once believed that resilience is a fixed trait. You are either born with it or not. This belief is still held in the surgical community. We believe by definition, surgeons are resilient, otherwise they couldn’t be surgeons.
This means when something goes wrong, and you don’t bounce back, it is a fault in your character.
You must “be more resilient”.
Thankfully, our view on resilience has changed.
The New World View
We now understand that the ability to bounce back is dynamic. It is context/life circumstance specific and fluctuates with age.
We can become more resilient with training.
But like anything worthwhile, it requires work.
From my experience, resilience is improved in 3 ways.