It’s hard to imagine being resilient without being positive. Some people can be resilient in their negativity. However, in the long run, that negative behavior will sap the energy out of them. You cannot thrive for very long in an environment filled with negativity. You will lose resiliency in this environment.
When you project a positive outlook, others will follow along. People are attracted to this outlook and will want to make it continue. While some people will be attracted to others who are negative, on the whole, they prefer positive people. When this happens, you will be resilient by bringing others along.
When you are positive, you are more likely to look for solutions to problems. When you are negative, you are more likely to look for excuses. How can you be resilient when you are looking for excuses? Nothing will get done which means you will hold yourself (and others) back. Plus, if you are one to look for excuses constantly, others will catch onto this and avoid you. If you do this in your job, it could eventually lead to your dismissal. After being fired from your job, there's no way you can be resilient.
Being positive doesn’t mean you should never complain. Sometimes, you need to point out weaknesses where you know they exist. However, positive people tend to offer up alternatives which make them part of the solution. Imagine if several such people offered up alternatives. Solutions would surface quickly, wouldn’t they? Contrast this to excuse makers. They will never find solutions.
It’s believed that people with positive attitudes have a greater chance at beating life-threatening diseases as well. Your body has the best mechanisms available to fight diseases, even better than medications. If you are positive about your outlook, it will set your body to the optimal conditions that should help you battle those diseases. Even if this weren’t true, it certainly is better than being negative, which increases stress. Stress has been proven to block the disease-fighting aspects of your body.
Think back to positive and negative times in your life. When were you happier, negative or positive? It’s likely that you chose positive times as being happier. It’s also likely that you were the most productive during this time. By extension, being productive means you were resilient. It all came from that positive attitude.
In what ways have you flexed your resilience muscle recently? Leave an answer below. Let's talk!
I love this vantage point. I've had to talk about resiliency at work quite a bit, while leading in a toxic environment. What I've noticed is that as long I as continue to stay positive, my subordinates feed off that energy doing well. I can see the correlation of resiliency and positivity.