The resilient personality: are you a strong person?

"We are what we do with what they made of us"

—Jean Paul Sartre

We cannot choose our life circumstances, but yes we can modulate our thoughts and attitudes to what surrounds us. In this way, indirectly, we can shape our circumstances.

How is your personality?

Once upon a time there was a peasant that he took care of some horses to help him with agricultural work on his small farm. One day, the foreman gave him bad news: the best of his horses had fallen into a well. The peasant could not believe it and rushed to the place, where he could see the horse at the bottom of the well. With all his might, he tried to get the horse out. Seeing that it was impossible and unable to find a solution to get the horse out of the hole, he had no more remedy than asking the foreman to pour dirt into the well so that the horse would be buried there same.

The foreman began to pour sand. The horse, eager to continue living, he did not allow himself to be buried by the falling earth and used it to go up, with a lot of effort, until he finally managed to get out.

What is your attitude in life? Do you let the earth engulf you or do you use it to climb?

The characteristics of a strong personality

A person resistant is one that despite suffering problems and even disorders that could destabilize, is able to maintain strength, resist and float.

These types of subjects are not immune to the events of the life that we all live, such as the death of a loved one, a sentimental break, a bad work situation... but they differ from others in that they are able to stoically accept these setbacks in life and draw strength from weakness to move forward.

What Traits Define a Resilient Personality

Suzanne C. Kobasa, psychologist of the University of Chicago, she conducted several investigations in which she found that individuals with resistant personalities have a number of characteristics in common. They are usually people of great commitment, control and challenge oriented (Kobasa, 1979).

These conditions allow them to be better able to cope with what life throws at them and overcome these adversities more quickly and lastingly than other people.

Components of Resilient Personality

1. The ability to compromise indicates that the person believes in what they do and is committed to what matters to them. Commitment encompasses various aspects of life, such as the workplace, interpersonal relationships, responsibility with daily obligations, etc. These people not only face stressful situations more impassively, but they are also usually skilled at helping other people cope with these types of experiences.
2. The control refers to the ability of the subject to find her intrinsic motivations. That is, they are capable of being motivated by something without the need to be directly compensated by a third person. They are passionate about what they do. This attitude helps them to feel like themselves, and to enjoy their time. They tend to experience greater control over their life and, therefore, know that they can cope with their problems, because they depend on themselves.
3. The challenge: people with a taste for challenges consider change as something inherent to life. They understand changes not as failures but as beneficial challenges for their individual development, as an opportunity to improve and continue progressing in any area of ​​life.

Resilience: the essence of the resilient personality

Maddi and Kobasa also found that resistant personality type is an important factor in predicting the psychological resilience. Resilience is often defined as the ability of individuals to overcome periods of emotional pain and adversity.

Recommended text: "The 10 habits of resilient people"

The way that the resistant personality confers resilience appears to be a combination of cognitive elements, behavioral mechanisms, and certain biophysical behaviors. Succinctly, it can be stated that as the stressful circumstances, so does the physical and mental tension of the person, and if this situation is intense and prolonged enough, imbalances in health and performance are to be expected (Maddi, 2004).

In short, Maddi (2006) argues that tough personality style has a moderating effect on this process, fostering effective mental and behavioral coping, building and utilizing social support, and engaging in effective health and personal care practices.

Bibliographic references:

• Maddi, S. R., & Kobasa, S. C. (1984). The hardy executive: Health under stress. Homewood, IL:: Dow Jones-Irwin.
• Maddi, S. R. (2004). "Hardiness: An operationalization of existential courage." Journal of Humanistic Psychology 44 (3): 279–298. doi: 10.1177 / 0022167804266101.
• Maddi, S. R. (2006). "Hardiness: The courage to grow from stresses." Journal of Positive Psychology 1 (3): 160–168. doi: 10.1080 / 17439760600619609.