Last month, I led a training for the Sierra Club that addressed how people can tap into their resilience through a mindful self-care check-in. Since then, I have been reflecting on the ways I struggled emotionally, mentally, and physically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, economic instability, politics, and the elections in 2020 and the domestic terrorist attack by white supremacists on the U.S. Capitol during the first week of 2021. I remembered the stress and anxiety, and the way they triggered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) moments from living in DC during the first and second Iraqi Wars, Rodney King civil unrest, and 9/11. I thought about the ways I used mindful self-care practices to nurture myself; the support I received from family, friends, and a therapist; and the strength I gained.
My reflections led me to the wisdom of Dr. Maya Angelou, one of my wellness women warriors: “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” Dr. Angelou’s wisdom embodies resilience. For me, resilience is my ABILITY and CHOICE to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and bounce back when I overcome adversity, face a challenge or navigate change.
When you hear the word resilience what comes up for you? How do you define it?
My struggles taught me three things about resilience.
1. Resilience is one of our superpowers. We just have to remember to tap into and use it.
2. Mindful self-care practices lay the foundation for resilience. Mindful self-care practices help us release stress, rest, and restore ourselves.
3. We each have a personal and ancestral legacy of resilience. A personal legacy of resilience includes past experiences of overcoming adversity, facing challenges, and coping with change. An ancestral legacy of resilience is the strength of the people in our family, community, and culture who overcame adversity, faced challenges, and navigated change. They are our sheroes, heroes, and theyroes.
This month, I invite you to slow down and reflect on the two questions below.
- Think back to one moment in 2020 (or another time in your life) when you overcame adversity, faced a challenge or navigated change. How did it make you stronger?
- Pick one person you admire in your family, community or culture for overcoming adversity, facing a challenge or navigating change. What did they teach you?
Do you and/or your business, organization or community need my training or coaching support on resilience, mindfulness or self-care? Contact me at [email protected] and head on over to Ananda Leeke Consulting to learn how we can work together this year.