Resilience & Relationships

In the sev­en years since I pub­lished Your Oxy­gen Mask First, and after mak­ing hun­dreds of pre­sen­ta­tions around the world, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the prin­ci­ples of the book and about what we need to sur­vive and thrive.

Most impor­tant­ly, we need to build and main­tain our resilience, the key ingre­di­ent that allows us to sus­tain­ably and con­tin­u­al­ly grow as we move through the chal­lenges in world.

But it’s about more than sur­viv­ing those chal­lenges. Resilience enables us to thrive through all the cir­cum­stances life throws our way – through the amaz­ing things that come, and the real­ly hard things that test us and, ulti­mate­ly, make us stronger.

To do that, we need the right habits, resources and peo­ple around us, oth­er­wise we suc­cumb and become stuck in a vic­tim-like state.

This is about giv­ing your­self per­mis­sion to put your­self first.

It’s about mak­ing your needs an unwa­ver­ing priority,

so you are strong and resilient enough to be of ser­vice to others.

- Your Oxy­gen Mask First

May is Men­tal Health Month

I’m writ­ing this, fresh from giv­ing a pre­sen­ta­tion to the staff at our client Medix, head­quar­tered in Chica­go. This com­pa­ny, as a strong advo­cate for good men­tal health, pro­vides lots of resources, edu­ca­tion and sup­port for their team.

This third pre­sen­ta­tion to their whole com­pa­ny rein­forced to me the need for not just one but an ongo­ing con­ver­sa­tion about men­tal health and resilience because new peo­ple are always join­ing the com­pa­ny and cir­cum­stances are always chang­ing for peo­ple already there.

A great shout out to CEO Andrew Limouris and his team, at Medix who cre­ate a work­place that encour­ages great, open con­ver­sa­tions. It’s the foun­da­tion peo­ple need to reach out and be there, for each oth­er when times get tough – per­son­al­ly or professionally.

Rela­tion­ships are Everything

It can be hard to reach out for help – for me, at least – and, some­times, it doesn’t feel good to admit that things aren’t going well.

So, the rela­tion­ships and strong bonds we form through the cama­raderie of work­ing togeth­er, year after year, can become a big part of the sup­port and resources we need to stay resilient.

It helps to talk to some­one you trust when deal­ing with a fam­i­ly sit­u­a­tion with our kids or par­ents, a health prob­lem or an issue one of our team members.

As Medix CEO Andrew Limouris and I talked about the val­ue of mak­ing friends with peo­ple who are on a sim­i­lar path to you – often found lat­er in life – I thought about the amaz­ing rela­tion­ships and resources I have built through the work that I’ve done with peo­ple around the world.

We help each oth­er when times get rough.

The Chal­lenge

• • What do con­sis­tent­ly you do to recharge your bat­ter­ies and main­tain your resilience?

Resources

Your Oxy­gen Mask First. Here are links to two chap­ters you may find useful:

• Chap­ter 3 Dou­ble Your Resilience
• Chap­ter 7 Man­age Your Men­tal Health

Arti­cles

• Man­ag­ing Your Men­tal Health in Tur­bu­lent Times
• Tak­ing a Men­tal Health Break
• Is Men­tal & Emo­tion­al Health a Pri­or­i­ty in Your Boardroom?
• Teach Your Chil­dren Men­tal Resilience
• Get Mov­ing: The First Option to Treat Depres­sion & Anxiety
• How Do You Replen­ish & Recharge Your Batteries

Assess­ment Tool

• Resilience Self-Assess­ment

An inter­view with one of us who had a close call.

Pro­fes­sion­al help.

Don’t for­get there are psy­chol­o­gists and coun­sel­lors who ded­i­cate their lives to help­ing peo­ple when they need it.

9−8−8 hot­line for men­tal health and sui­cide pre­ven­tion support.

Free, 24 hours a day, sev­en days a week, 365 days a year. Trained cri­sis respon­ders will lis­ten to you and pro­vide sup­port with com­pas­sion, pro­vid­ing a safe space for you to talk.