Building Resilience to Protect Your Mental Health

Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects everything from how we feel and think to how we interact with others and handle stress. Mental health issues can be caused by a variety of factors—something seemingly small like a night or two of poor sleep or something big and unexpected, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental health is important at all stages of life and looking after it is critical. Dave Downing, PsyD, in SMGOR’s Behavioral Health program agrees but reminds us that, “We all experience emotional difficulties at some point in our lives.” He adds, “Being emotionally and mentally well is not simply the absence of a distress, but rather one’s willingness to experience both positive and negative emotions. That’s what I believe defines resilience.”

Resilience is what ultimately protects our overall well-being and defends against the stress and pressures of life that we all experience. If you are unable to tap into positive emotions and set aside negative ones, resilience can be damaged and bouncing back to “normal” is more difficult.

Dr. Downing would like to offer several helpful strategies and tips to both patients and providers to build resilience. We’ve narrowed down his expansive list to the ones we think will best serve you!

Three Effective but Simple Strategies for Improving Resilience and Protecting Mental Well-Being

  1. Journal Three Good Things

Every day for two weeks, write down three things that went well that day within two hours of going to bed. The events can be small or large, but you must write them down and they should be specific. This repetitive exercise trains you to walk through each day looking for things that are going well and allows you to experience the positive feelings associated with those things.

  1. Express Gratitude

Showing gratitude has many health benefits, and those who consistently express it tend to present with improved mood, greater optimism, better physical health, and lower rates of stress and depression.

A good exercise for this is writing a letter of gratitude. It seems simple, but writing a letter expressing your appreciation for a person and the impact they had/have on your life can help you tap into positive feelings and increase resilience. Writing a letter disconnects you from toxic, negative emotions and shifts attention to positive ones.

Follow these steps:

Think of someone who has done something for you in a big way; this person can be alive or no longer with us, but he or she did this great thing for you simply because they wanted to. Spend the next seven minutes writing an authentic and heartfelt letter of gratitude to that person for what they had done.

Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. You do not need to send or read the letter to the person but certainly can. Seven minutes of writing a letter of gratitude has been shown to provide long-term benefits on one’s psychological well-being. To keep the benefits up, you can read your letter again or write another one.

  1. Add the Words “Just for Now”

When stressful situations go on for long periods of time, we often forget that these events will not remain forever. Reminding ourselves of the temporary nature of stressful times helps us look beyond them and allows us to manage and cope much better. Adding the three simple words, “JUST FOR NOW”, onto the end of anything negative you may be thinking or saying, reminds of the situation’s impermanence. For example, “I am stuck at home with little to do…just for now”, “The kids are struggling with homeschooling…just for now”, or “I can’t attend a concert or play…just for now”.

“There will always be periods of difficulty and mental distress—sadness, transition, or uncertainty,” says Dr. Downing. “But if you can strengthen the qualities that improve your emotional and mental resilience, you will be better equipped to cope with current and future challenges.”

Need professional help?

Summit Medical Group Oregon’s Behavioral Health Team offers day and evening appointments—in office and via telemedicine—for a variety of emotional and situational challenges. Call (541) 382-4900 to schedule an appointment.