This past year has been a truly remarkable year. Around this time last year, we were quarantining in our homes, and updates regarding vaccine developments were making one of the biggest news headlines. Moderna published its initial Phase I/II clinical trial data on July 14th, 2020, and today, nearly 50% of the U.S. population are fully vaccinated. Despite the medical and economic crisis, our country and communities endured, adapted, and grew tremendously.
Paralleling the growth exemplified by our nation, my personal journey in the past year has also involved setbacks and growths. Reflecting back on the 2020-2021 academic year, I think the word that best sums up the year is “resilience.”
According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is defined as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors -- [and] ‘bouncing back’ from these difficult experiences...” (“Building Your Resilience”). Being resilient doesn’t mean that you are unaffected by difficulties or distress, nor does it necessarily mean that you are “mentally tough” and able to avoid experiencing setbacks in the first place.
Rather, being resilient means that you are able to: (1) maintain a positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities; (2) regulate stress levels and manage strong emotions and impulses; and (3) feel a sense of meaning and purpose in your life. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it is apparent that being resilient is critical for physical and mental health and in turn, for experiencing life more fully.
While I didn’t experience anything overtly traumatic this past year, I was faced with several sources of stress that tested my character. Academically, I almost failed an exam in the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology course. It is a course notorious for its heavy content and difficult exams which I thought I had prepared myself to the best of my ability only to find out that I had not. Running out of time and not answering all the questions on the exam left me feeling demoralized and wretched. What helped me to bounce back from this demoralized state was to stop dwelling on negative thinking, spend quality time with close friends, and use humor to release the stress.
Relationships, of various sorts, were another source of distress that led to low points for me this past year. I experienced a break-up, which would not have been easy during quarantine or not. I also found myself at odds with my mother as a result of having to live at home. When the stress and frustration levels reached their peak, I sought help from the student mental health counseling services. Consultations were very helpful and something I strongly suggest to many of my friends and other students if they are struggling mentally or just need someone to talk to. Other activities that helped me regain peace and feel like myself again include engaging in spiritual activities in my faith practice, as well as finding healthy outlets for stress such as journaling, cooking, and jogging.
Through the process of confronting difficult situations, suffering from them, and then exercising mental muscle to regain self-esteem and optimism, I feel that I have become a little more resilient. Life will continue to surprise me with events that test my character, and I hope to face them head on each time to become ever more grounded and ever more humble. Similarly, new variants of the coronavirus or another virus, from who knows where, will continue to threaten our peace every now and then, but we will continue to confront, adapt, and emerge stronger each time.
“Building Your Resilience.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/topics/resilience.
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