Transcription:
Resiliency

Melanie Cole (Host):  Welcome to Stoughton Hospital Health Talk. I’m Melanie Cole and today, we’re discussing building resilience. Joining me is Teresa Lindfors. She’s a Registered Nurse and the Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at Stoughton Hospital. Teresa, thank you for joining us and what a great topic at this time especially. Give us a little working definition. What does it mean to resilient?

Teresa Lindfors, FACHE, RN (Guest):  Resiliency simply means the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or having a toughness. I often think of a rubber band actually and that ability to spring back after a tough situation.

Host:  So, right now, we’re all going through a tough situation. Does being resilient mean we will not feel what’s going on or we’ll just let it wash off our shoulders or does it give us the tools to deal with things as they come to us, as they happen or does it mean someone – that these things don’t even affect them at all?

Teresa:  Right. Resiliency is really an individual situation. We can’t make someone else resilient. Each individual is responsible for their own resiliency and there are tips and strategies that can be used to help people become more resilient as individuals.

Host:  Well let’s talk about some of those tips and strategies and while you’re doing that, tell us about the relationship between resilience and mental health. Because as we’re all experiencing feelings of isolation, anxiety, fear, there’s so many feelings going on right now. Building resiliency is something we all need. So, give us some of those tips and strategies and how they can help our mental health at this time.

Teresa:  Perfect. Yes, there’s a lot that we could be doing to help our mental health and our resiliency simultaneously. First of all, as you mentioned, feelings, what comes to mind to me, is the facts that one of the coping strategies to build our resiliency is really to accept your own feelings and know that what you’re feeling is okay and it’s normal. I, myself, have gone through a wide range of feelings since early March when the COVID changes have really hit our current environment. And I had to learn myself, to accept that it was okay to feel denial at times. Anger at times. Wanting to bargain with the experts at times. A lot of different feelings and everybody is going through a wide array of those at different times in our nation right now. And I really think that everybody needs to know and understand that it’s okay to feel what you’re feeling.

But to your point, it’s more about so what do we do, what are some of those tips we do to help ourselves be resilient so that doesn’t get the better of us. And one thing that’s really important is minimizing our media exposure and practicing turning off from time to time. And what I mean there, by media exposure is not just the news, but also Facebook and other social media outlets because sometimes we are just too connected to too much information coming in and we need to take a mental health break from all the overload. There’s a lot of noise going on as I put it. And we know out there that negativity often screams at us and the positivity only whispers at us.

So, it’s really important at times we shut off that negativity and allow ourselves a break. So, that’s one great example of a coping tip. Another one is to allow yourself to get out into nature. We double our resiliency if we get outdoors. Research has shown that. We optimize by getting outdoors and being closer to nature, in whatever way that might work for you. Whether it’s going for a walk in a park or going to the beach, whatever might be appropriate for you again, as an individual and help you.

The other thing I want to mention here is the fact that our mind and body link is really important to our mental health as well. And so, eating healthy is key, getting our fruits and veggies and all our food groups in appropriately is very important. Staying hydrated by drinking a lot of water throughout the day is another thing that keep our body, mind and so on in sync. Also sleeping well. Having a routine sleep cycle, going to bed and getting a good seven to nine hours on a routine basis really helps our physical and mental wellbeing. And then last, but not least, in that regard, exercise. And what I mean there is you don’t have to start suddenly running half marathons or marathons. But simply moving your body. With more people working from home these days, it’s more and more important that people get up and move away from their computer screen and just move. Walk, move around, that is important and key again, to both that physical, mind and body linkage.

Host:  What great advice Teressa. So, as we consider wellness, with regard to our satisfaction of our needs, our human core needs, and this sense of flourishing that so many of us are missing right now; tell us about self-care. You’ve mentioned exercise, getting out into nature, stepping away from the noise and the news and all of these things. But there are other things that we can do like meditation, or yoga, or mindfulness, all of these things. Give us some self-care techniques that can help us kind of individualize our own need for resiliency, our own need to get through all of this and come out on the other end maybe even stronger.

Teresa:  Great point and yes, stress reduction is a priority and you mentioned meditation and mindfulness are a couple of the key strategies that I often mention in that regard. That time again, where you just find a place of peace for you. If that’s a busy mother with many kids at home, if that’s taking a hot bath and getting away from everything for ten to fifteen minutes. So, again, it’s very individualized but that time away to meditate and just find peace and mindfulness is being present in the moment so, that means letting everything else go. Letting all that noise that is in our minds constantly, letting that go and being okay with that each day to know that you have a time set aside to let go, to be present in the moment. And in that regard, there’s also methods that people can use such as deep breathing. Deep breathing where you just purposefully breath in a deep breath, hold it for three seconds and then let it all out. And that deep breathing exercise repeated ten to twenty times is a great easy exercise anyone can do.

There’s certainly other ways people can tense muscles and then kind of release that muscle group from feeling tense and again, it gives you that sense of peace as though you are letting everything kind of go and exit your body that has been troubling you or stressing you. Another thing that I think is important in this regard, of meditation, mindfulness is also relationships and so it’s really key that we reach out to others that bring us positivity and joy. We reach out to those relationships that we hold dear and we continue to connect with each other so that we’re not letting this time of quarantine or staying away from others, get in the way of our healthy relationships.

Host:  Wow. You know that’s so important and really such a great point. So, as we’re talking about those healthy thoughts and trying to clear our minds and not let it stress us out so bad; how can we get rid of some of that negative talk that we’re hearing in our own heads, oh everything is so bad, oh my kids, I’m worried about them going back to school, all of these negative thoughts that are going around we’ve got to get rid of. So, tell us how we can also teach our kids to use these resiliency points that you’re giving us and how also things like contribution, calling, gratitude, all of those kinds of things can help us and our kids to put this all into perspective and manage our expectations for everything that’s going on today.

Teresa:  Yes. Children are a key piece in all of this and certainly, the resiliency factors I’ve mentioned are good for children and adults however, specific to children, a strategy or a tactic that I put in place with my own family was a gratitude jar. Simply took a glass jar out of the cupboard and put post its notes and pens around it and encouraged the whole family to utilize the post its and write down something they were grateful for each day as it came to them or as it occurred and drop that in the jar. And then each week, we would take the jar and at a family meal, read through the things that we were grateful for during the week.

Another thing that research has shown and recommended to us is the practice of three good things which is an opportunity before you go to bed each night, to end your day with positivity and reflecting on three good things that happened to you during the day. So, again, adult or children could certainly use this strategy of listing those three positive things for their day and then you go to bed with that positivity in mind and it’s actually shown to help you wake up more refreshed and ready to go the next day.

Host:  What a great idea for families to try. I’m going to try that today with my kids. Teressa, wrap it up for us with your best advice on building resiliency and the importance of right now especially, but really all the time, but right now for so many of us, when mental health issues are on the rise. People are suffering. They are anxious. Give us your best advice for building resiliency and when you feel it’s time for people to maybe seek some help and get some help from somebody else.

Teresa:  You bet. So, I would say accept your feelings and know that your feelings are normal and reach out to those who bring you positivity and remember the mind and body link of eating right, exercise, sleep, staying hydrated and one other parting thought is please remember laughter. Laughter is a good thing. We’re going through very serious times now. But don’t forget to laugh and enjoy the little things. If you’re struggling to get out of bed, or are finding yourself in a depressed state, please reach out to your mental health providers in your area and reach out to the mental health resources available to then seek more help beyond this podcast.

Host:  Absolutely great advice. What a good podcast this was. What a great episode and listeners please share this show with your friends and family, people you know that are going through this all together and they can take some of the great points that Teresa has give us today and really utilize them in our everyday lives. So, please share this show on your social media and that concludes this episode of Stoughton Health Talk. Thank you so much Teressa for joining us today. And please visit our website at www.stoughtonhealth.com for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. Please also remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other Stoughton Hospital podcasts. I’m Melanie Cole.