Resilience and Adaptability Summary

So, 14 posts later, and we are finishing our examination of Resilience and Adaptability.

My focus has been mainly on resilience.  I'm beginning to see the difference between the two.  Resilience is the ability to bounce back and carry on.  Adaptability is not only the ability to bounce back, but to change in response to whatever has happened; perhaps to thrive.

Although I have focused primarily on Growing up Resilient: Ways to build resilience in children and youth, by Barankin and Khanlou, I have read many other books in conjunction with this topic.

Let's sumarize the last two areas of resilience addressed in Growing up Resilient:

Family:

The factors contributing to a resilient family are:

Secure Attachment 
Effective Communication
Family Structure & Parent Relations: Stability
Parenting Style & History of Mental Illness
Sibling Relations & Community Context

Community:

The factors contributing to a resilient community are:

Inclusion
Social Conditions and Access
Involvement

I hope those of you reading this blog have found something in this discussion of resilience which will help you on your journey.

If I would take away one thing I can work on, it is in developing a better community fabric for myself.  I'm beginning to see through the study of the Psychology of Happiness, and now with Resilience, that I will be happier and healthier if I put more effort into connecting with others.  Engaging and becoming involved; rather than isolating and turning inward.

Adaptability & Resilience

Adaptability: Ability of an entity or organism to alter itself or its responses to changing circumstance or environment.  Adaptability demonstrates the ability to learn from experience and improve the chances of survival and/or thriving.

Resilience: 1. The ability to recover quickly from illness, change or misfortune; buoyancy. 2. The property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity.

Adaptability and resilience are two different, but related attributes.

I have observed a lack of resilience repeatedly in my life.  Like the rat mentioned earlier in this blog (post: December 8th, 2010) I seem to have no whiskers, give up and sink to the bottom.

Why does a sister coming from the same environment seem to have these two attributes in spades and I don't?

How is it, that people who have gone through far worse life experiences than I, not only survive; but thrive?  Whereas I, with lesser life challenges have wanted to die?

A graph in one of the Psychology of Happiness books stuck in my head, and I have tried to reproduce it below:

I don't know how well you can see this graph; but the idea is, that life goes along, our well-being fluctuates between normal parameters. Then something traumatic happens.  Something "bad".  From this point forward, there will be those who never recover; those who go down briefly, and then recover enough to carry on--but at a point of well-being lower than originally--Survivors.

Then, there are those who may go down initially; but who somehow rise above the traumatic event and do even better than before--Thrivers.

How does this happen?  Are there factors we can assimilate to make our lives better?  Can we learn how to thrive?  Rather than wanting to give up and die?

Over the coming weeks, I'll be reading and researching to see if I can discover the key to thriving, post trauma.  What constitutes a resilient person?