How well do your family members respond to life's challenges with courage and emotional stamina? When facing disappointments and obstacles, do you easily give up hope?
When you read "HOPE IS NOWHERE," did you see "Hope is No Where" or "Hope is Now Here"?
Your future could depend on how you look at things. To help others, you have to first get help for yourself. Please take the following test to find out how emotionally resilient you are.
Emotional resilience is the ability to successfully cope with change or misfortune. Even when afraid, resilient people respond to life's challenges with courage and emotional stamina.
While we can't always control what life brings, we can use adversity as an opportunity for growth. Respond True or False to the following statements to discover how well you cope with life's many challenges.
Set 1
1. When bad things happen, I think "why me?" I feel fear and self-pity; I want to find someone to blame.
2. When I feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, I overeat or drink too much alcohol, or do other things I know aren't good for me.
3. I don't trust I can handle adversity by myself, nor do I have supportive people I can truly count on in a crisis.
4. Even when my life seems stable, I worry that some kind of misfortune is around the corner. I also have a tendency to create catastrophes out of the little things that happen.
5. I find it hard to feel confident when bad things happen to good people. I feel despairing, hopeless and unable to move forward.
Set 2
1. I handle everything better when I take good care of myself. Exercising raises my endorphins; eating right and sleeping well gives me more physical, mental and emotional stamina; and setting aside time for play and positive connections makes me feel more joyful and optimistic.
2. I believe in my ability to handle life's challenges. At the same time, I know the importance of having loving, supportive people to help me face difficulties, large and small.
3. Even when faced with misfortune, I look for the "silver lining." I believe that ultimately there's a positive opportunity from which I can learn and grow.
4. I have a strong sense of meaning and purpose in my life that helps me move forward despite any obstacles.
5. I'm very persistent. Even when I get knocked down, I trust myself to eventually get back up.
If you answered TRUE more often in Set 1 and FALSE more often in Set 2, you may wish to learn some effective ways to develop more emotional resilience.
You can strengthen your resilience by becoming more emotionally self-aware, improving your mood with exercise, good diet, play and laughter, building self-reliance and a strong support network, and by developing perseverance, purpose and a more positive attitude.
What impact can our faith have on you and me? Listen to what the apostle Paul said:
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (Romans 5:1-5)
Author's content used with permission, © Claire Communications
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