Resilience is relative

So we have established that resilience is our ability to return back to our original state after a period of stress without being permanently affected i.e. our ability to bounce back.

I believe that after repeated exposure to a controlled dose of stress we can build up a tolerance and therefore inoculate ourselves against stress. However, stress comes in many shapes, sizes and stains.

So building up a tolerance for a particular type of stress will not necessarily inoculate us against all forms of stress, just the one's that we are exposed to more often.

So let me use a body building analogy to explain. Body builders lift weights, load the muscles, release the weight and repeat, then there is a period of rest and recovery. What this process does is micro tear the muscles which are then repaired bigger and stronger thus increasing their resilience to this type of stress on the body and muscles.

Now I lift weights but I am unlikely to win Mr Universe, why?

The difference is the physical and mental focus and conditioning of those body builders, thus with the right training of the mind and body we can develop resilience to the stresses we experience.

I know many Executives that I consider to be very resilient and I know many athletes that are resilient but put them in each others environments and they are likely to get distorted because they have not developed the necessary type of resilience.

So resilience is relative to the stress we experience.

So just to conclude my body building analogy, I guess that a body builder who works in a corporate or 'political' environment would be extremely resilient - which might explain the catch phrase of a person that comes to mind and I will leave you with these words 'I'll be back' or should it be 'I'll bounce back'.

Next time - Stress and Resilience: two sides of the same coin