[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hey, everyone.
Angie Miller here with AFAA.
And I'm so glad you joined me, because I
want to talk about something very close to my heart.
And that is building resilience.
So May is Mental Health Month, so it's a perfect time
to talk about it.
But resilience is also pivotal in my own life,
because resilience is what I'm calling upon
to manage a move that I just made from Chicago to Charlotte.
So in Chicago, I left behind my job
as a mental health therapist.
I left behind my job teaching at the university
where I taught courses in stress management and sports
psychology.
Boy, do I miss those.
And then my eight fitness classes, my community,
and my heart--
they gave me the sustenance and kept me grounded
and strong for the work that I do.
So after coming off of a lot of travel,
I recently really just kind of settled in Charlotte.
And that's when it really hit home,
the importance of resilience and the ability
to bounce back when life throws us a curveball
or we have unexpected circumstances or just
big life changes that we need to deal with.
Whether it's a relocation, or job loss, or maybe
it is relationship difficulties, or financial stress,
or whatever it might be.
We all know that it's not what comes at us in life,
but it's our ability to move forward
is what matters the most.
So you know how we meet those people
and it's like they have boxing gloves on,
and no matter what comes their way,
they seem to fight their way through it.
And then we know those people who sail along on crystal
clear, blue waters, and the waves pick up
and the storm comes in and they fall out of the boat,
and they really struggle to get back in.
Well, the thing is is that resilience-- the good news is
we're not born with it.
It's not like blue eyes.
Resilience is something we can learn.
It's skills and traits that we can
learn to help us deal with hardship
and to be able to move forward and adapt.
It's not that resilient people are not affected
by trauma and hardship.
It's not that they don't feel the pain.
It's that they find a way to work
their way through the circumstance
and to come out stronger and to be able to move forward.
So I think of resilience like those springs, those shoes
with springs on them.
And when somebody knocks you down,
you're able to just bounce back up.
And you're able to come back, and you're
ready to face those challenges.
And the more we meet challenges, the more resilient
we have the opportunity to become.
So how do we build resilience?
Well, I have five ways for you.
I'm going to share two with you this week and three
more next week, because slow and steady wins the race.
Sometimes we have to adopt a couple of tools,
see if they work for us.
If they do, we implement them into our everyday life.
If they don't, next week I'll bring you a few more
that you can give a shot.
So the first way that I think builds
resilience is to turn everyday adversity into an opportunity
to build resilience.
That's a mouthful, I realize.
But the thing is, you know how we have all these daily
frustrations-- long lines, traffic, a bad day at work,
whatever it might be--
and we come home and we grumble, grumble about them.
But really, those are opportunities.
Those are ways that we can problem solve.
We can sit back and say, OK, how did I manage that situation?
And if it didn't go so well, how could
I manage it differently in the future?
And why is problem solving so important?
Well, it is, because it strengthens us.
It helps us to work our way through situations.
And the more we do that, the more
we have tools in our tool belt to work our way
through life's bigger burdens.
It's like a staircase.
Every step is a struggle.
And every time we get through that struggle,
we can move forward, go up higher into the staircase,
and we can face bigger struggles.
So the second way that I have to build resilience
is, when life changes, change with it.
And I know that sounds obvious, but let me tell you what--
I struggled with this.
So I got here, and I wanted to go back in and grab my job
as a mental health therapist, find a university to teach at,
and pick up my eight fitness classes,
like, five minutes ago.
I even wanted to teach the same formats.
And finally, I had to take some deep breaths
and really do a self-check and say, you know what?
When life changes, I have to change with it.
Nothing is the same, so I can't expect to live the same life.
It's like I had moved, but I hadn't let go.
So I have to be able to rebuild, recreate, and start over
from where I am now, not where I was yesterday or last year.
And that's huge and pivotal in being able to build resilience.
Start where you are right now, take what you learned,
use it, put it in your tool belt,
and then grow with it from there.
So those are my two tips to help build resilience.
And next week, I'm going to share three more.
I really hope you connect with me on social media.
On Instagram, I'm Angie Miller Fitness.
And on Facebook and Twitter, I'm Angie Miller Fit.
Also, check out my website, AngieMillerFitness.com.
So I'm so glad you joined me here at AFAA.
Keep doing what you love and loving what you do.
And I will see you next week.