Johannesburg, South Africa. Serving as the first-line response to the Covid-19 pandemic is a very challenging moment in our lives as healthcare professionals. Seeing our colleagues and patients succumb to the pandemic is strenuous to our psychological wellbeing and mental health. With all the layers of protective clothing, we feel naked and exposed.
When Covid-19 hit hard, we dug from what we know about viruses, infection control and transmission. With all the knowledge, we have power, but power is not resilience, As the pandemic overwhelmed our healthcare systems, we started posing question on how to deal with emotional pain that is not seen and still hope to soar high in our careers; how to deal with everyday precarious trauma of managing and losing the loved ones and still retain our demeanor in an overcrowded emergency room; how to stay resolute to achieve clinical excellence when beeps keep us awoke as the human bodies around us fade from existence with multi-organ failure.
For many of us, our resilience powder is exhausted, we need to see a ray of sunshine amidst the stormy weather. And we need a reason to hope again – to hope that the scourge will end soon; to thrive in our career; to be part of building a more resilient health system and to inspire lives in medicine. And it’s the resilient that maintains that hope, hence staying resilient is important to emerge stronger
How does one start to build resilience?
From within and elsewhere. We all have the inherent ingredients to build resilience – we just need to start. In addition to what we know, we need to draw upon who we, empathy and the leadership lessons learnt to carry us through uncertainties. Resilience tools are not sharpened instantaneously, they are developed over time. Here are some of the tips that can help you build resilience.
- Take stock of how you spend our time.
The time you spend building your dream is an hour that will in the future compound success. If you cannot manage your time, something will manage it for you. There are currently countless activities you could do to build resilience. Apart from the daily routines of meditation, exercise, proverbial good breakfast and planning three to-do things for the day, doctors could do more. Start reading books to shape your thinking. Reading books shouldn’t have stopped at the military camps of medical school. Your story is worth listening to, start writing your experiences. Writing is an outlet of what we think and helps us to initiate dialogue
- Let’s change the way we think
Cognitive restructuring is training your brain to think differently about a situation. Say you are afraid to take a plunge into an entrepreneurial journey because you may not have enough income in the first year. Ask yourself what’s the worst that may happen if you do. Is it losing your house? Frankly is that the worst thing that can happen to a human being? Demystifying what you think is the worst thing, about a person, about a career, or a situation helps you to go forth with courage. It helps you visualize success without obscurity. Because if you can’t see what you are going for, you will not seek it and you will not plan for it. Success requires a cognitive restructuring resulting in purpose, a goal, a plan, and finally, action. There are no shortcuts.
- Seek mentorship and coaching
I believe everyone who is serios about their career needs to expand possibilities vertically and horizontally. Speaking to those who have been there helps to know what’s out there. Learn the art of requesting a hand from power by asking courageously people to be your mentors, even though you may speak to them once a month.
A mentor helps you to see a world that is outside yours by helping you build resilience and to see light at the end of a tunnel. If you see a world that could be yours, and define some steps to get there, life becomes bearable.
- Show me your friends, they are your resilience and growth circle
Who do you reminisce within your circles? Surround yourself with friends fixated on the “I CAN” rather then “I CAN’T”, those interested in big dreams and growing GDPs. You can’t be the smartest person in the room otherwise find a different room. Some of your friends, and some of your relationships not aligned to the success agenda, need to go. This is a no brainer, to be different, some friendships and relationships should be terminated as they are diminishing your resilience.
- Start working on where you will be in 5 years’ time today
Quit hoping that one day it will get better on its own, take action to make it better. While taking action amidst many unknown variables is hard, that will be the start of building resilience that will keep you in course for a better you.
