Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. -Nelson Mandela

Bottom line: We are dealing with a rapidly spreading, deadly disease that didn’t even exist several months ago. For many, it is a threat to life and to livelihood, and it has isolated us from each other and changed the way we live our daily lives. There is a lot we still don’t know about COVID-19. We are understandably afraid, experiencing shortages of healthcare resources, and risk becoming ill or losing loved ones. And yet...

We are more than victims. One of the amazing things about people is that we adapt. We learn. We rise to challenges. We don’t yet have proven treatments for this disease, but research is underway. Medications are being tried, healthcare teams are trying to optimize the best ways to do prevention and treatment, and work on a vaccine has begun. Every day, thousands of acts of kindness and compassion unfold as we do what we can to protect each other. Whether it is social distancing, donating supplies, reaching out to others who are isolated, or any number of other small (or large) heroic acts, we are rising to the challenge.

While we still have a lot to learn about COVID, we already know a lot about ourselves. We know from research – and from long experience - many ways to stay healthy, increase our resistance to illnesses like COVID-19, cope with stress, and bounce back from trauma. In short, we know a lot about resilience, and that empowers us even during times like this.

This guide offers some specific options you can choose that can help you be at your best when it comes to handling COVID, or anything else that comes your way.

What is Resilience?

Resilience has been described many ways, mainly around how we can successfully adapt -and even grow – after trauma, stress, or tragedy.¹ The World Health Organization notes there are “protective factors and assets” that allow us to adapt to challenges so that we better after trauma or stress.² The goal, then, is to bring in and develop those resilience factors so that we can deal with challenges more effectively. One person may handle a challenge and perhaps even find ways to grow from it (or in spite of it), while another person may never recover from it. However, resilience isn’t just a personality trait, or something we are born with; it involves thoughts, behaviors and actions that people can develop.