Resilience is an important part of successful aging that can help combat negative experiences like depression and chronic illness. It has even been linked to longevity in some research. Resilience refers to one’s ability to adapt well and bounce back from physical, emotional, or social challenges. The American Psychological Association (APA) also says that “As much as resilience involves ‘bouncing back’ from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth.”
In other words, resilience is not just surviving a difficult experience. It’s the ability to adapt and cope with circumstances in a way that allows people to emerge stronger and use lessons learned from their experiences to improve. There are some traits commonly associated with being a resilient older person, but the APA also notes that resilience is not a personality trait that only some people possess. It’s not a set of personal characteristics someone is born with. Rather, “resilience involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that anyone can learn and develop,” and these can affect positive aging, including senior health and wellness.
Additionally, resilience does not seem to be dependent on circumstances. Research has shown that senior adults can possess traits of high resilience no matter their socioeconomic background, life experiences, or health challenges. So, it seems that the adage that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is not true at all in this case. In fact, with the population of this country largely living to be older each year, it seems increasingly important to help older adults focus on building resilience for its positive consequences.
Now you may be asking yourself—how do I build my resilience? It can take some time, but there are thoughts and behaviors that you can practice to help. Various researchers point to slightly different behaviors, but I often like to work on the below list from the Arizona Institute on Aging with my older adult patients:
- Optimism and effective coping styles: Try to respond to crises from the “silver lining” point of view rather than despair. This factor is more important to obtaining happiness in aging than perfect health. Practicing gratitude can be helpful to this end as well.
- Personal Connections: Happily engage with family and friends, close-knit communities, or a paid or unpaid work. All opportunities to connect in person, via phone, or via video chat are useful here. Be open-minded to all.
- Sense of Purpose: This is a known predictor of longevity. Be involved in an activity or function that gives life meaning. This factor affects optimism and how one looks to the future. Fostering or caring for pets, caring for grandchildren, or volunteer work help here. You can check out volunteermatch.org to help find local volunteer opportunities.
- Self-Efficacy: Problem solve, be flexible, and be adaptable. This helps individuals maintain independence. Trying to act on solutions helps build feelings of empowerment.
- Healthy Diet / Active Lifestyle: Practice being a healthier, more active adult to possess more factors of resilience and vice versa. Eat well and do some exercise each day.
With work, awareness, and repeated practice, you can engage better in all of the above if you are interested. Work towards being less stuck “in the old” by trying new things. Seeking out new hobbies, new friends, new exercise classes, and new foods/restaurants helps lead seniors to a more engaged, fulfilling, and resilient life.
If you need inspiring personal stories to motivate you even further, read Karl Pillemer’s book 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice for the Wisest Americans (2012). Many people interviewed in the book share amazing examples of resilience and getting through difficult times to go on and age well despite those situations.
Dr. Hayley Hirschmann is a clinical psychologist in private practice with the Morris Psychological Group, P.A. in Parsippany. Practice specialties include treatment of adult depressive and anxiety disorders and grief management. She also has a special interest in, and experience treating, mental health issues specific to women. Such issues include, but are not limited to, post-partum depression, post-surgery depression, menopause related depression, adjustment to divorce or single parenthood, and coping with chronic illness, losses or trauma.
