Resilience -- the ability to adapt well to stress, adversity, trauma or tragedy. It means that, overall, you remain stable and maintain healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning in the face of disruption or chaos. (webmd.com)
Building resilience is an issue I"ve been working on with my counselor.
She says I am much better at coping than I *think* I am. However, I had to take a stress leave as a result of my principal's behaviors last year. You may remember, that for the first time in my career, I had to file a grievance for non support. And I filed THREE of them.
My counselor did some digging for me. She found the issue of building resilience to be a mine field of politics! Here's a brief look at the politics of mental health.
The neo conservatives say that intellect alone will determine resilience factor, and that with intellect, one will suvive and thrive. Therefore, there's nothing can be done. Resilience is an inate ability - nature not nurture - and we live with the cards we are dealt with.
The liberals say that resilience can be nourished. That a person may have little to start with, but, with training, can learn tools with which to cope. This is a matter of nurture, not nature, and all people can improve their ability to withstand stressors and and function in a healthy manner.
So, I was happily surprised to find this on another site I frequent -- webmd.com. It's true for sure, we get what we need when we need it.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/resilience/MH00078
Hope this helps you as much as I've gained from it.
Shalom!