Resilience is our ability to navigate and bounce-back from life’s challenges.
There’s a big difference between resilience and strength. Strength (and even grit) help us push through and endure challenging situations.
Growth is born of challenges, and resilience pivots us beyond strength into a growth mindset, empowering us to actually level-up after the challenge.
By the time we become adults, our brains are pretty hard-wired. When encountering a situation that is intimidating or confusing, one’s brain hops onto the well-worn neurological pathway that it is most familiar with. Maybe that neural pathway leads to anxiety or shutting down, leaving the individual feeling powerless to address the situation, and consumed with negative emotions surrounding it.
While facing my own mental health challenges, I devised various ways to retrain my brain and avoid hopping onto the anxiety train. I learned how to remain calm and collected in the most stressful moments, such as high-pressure work situations and navigating a divorce. These approaches are grounded in the tenets of my resilience building workshop - perspective and self-love.
I coach my clients to not only retrain how they process triggers and stress, but to also embrace a lifestyle that will support these positive pathways.
One of the stories that I share in my resilience workshop is the loss of my first pregnancy during my PhD studies. I was so distraught by this loss that I almost dropped out of the program. I suppressed the trauma to cope with it, which led to major mental health issues.
We all experience traumatic events at some point in our lives (case in point, COVID-19) and I share simple ways to help students check in with themselves and maintain a pulse on their mental health. Nobody taught me how important it was until I was so mentally and physically ill that I could no longer work. I made the effort to heal, and I make the effort every day to maintain this healthy space.
I don’t ever want to see anyone else suffer like I did, and it is my mission to channel the love I feel for the child I lost toward others who are navigating their own challenges.
If you need more guidance on resilience or any other challenges, please don't hesitate to email me directly here to schedule a free consultation.
Dr. Lori Ana Valentín is an analytical chemist who holds doctorate and master’s degrees in chemistry from Binghamton University as well as a bachelor of science in biochemistry from SUNY Fredonia. She is a forensic scientist at the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany, NY. Valentín began her work in forensics in 2015. She was assigned to the seized drugs section where she analyzed hundreds of evidentiary items for the presence of controlled substances in local, state and federal criminal cases. In her current role, she manages the internship program and leads learning and development, community outreach, and organizational health and wellness.
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