Strategies
Resilience: 7 Strategies for Getting Through Hard Times
Two people experience the same job loss in the same month. Six months later, one has regained their footing and talks about that period as a turning point, while the other person is still paralyzed by the ordeal.
The difference isn’t a matter of strength of character, but of resilience, a mindset that stems from a set of resources, several of which can be developed and maintained.
This guide offers a definition grounded in mental health research, seven concrete strategies backed by documented protective factors, and clear markers for recognizing when professional support becomes necessary.
Resilience, what the word really means
The Mental Health Commission of Canada defines it as the capacity to recover from a difficult situation or to overcome a significant obstacle. It involves adapting to and recovering from stress, setbacks, or adversity.
Three elements of this definition deserve emphasis.
First, it’s a process, not a state. You don’t “become” resilient once and for all, the way you earn a diploma.
Second, this process assumes genuine adversity. Talking about resilience in the face of a minor annoyance empties the concept of its meaning.
Finally, and this is the point most often forgotten, resilience draws on external resources as much as internal ones. The quality of the support received matters as much as the person’s own strength.
Work on mental health promotion in Quebec emphasizes this dimension. Mouvement Santé mentale Québec points out that building resilience isn’t measured primarily by a person’s performance or skills. It concerns one’s sense of self, self-esteem, identity, sense of belonging, and the place one holds.
Seven strategies to build resilience
These strategies aren’t motivational tricks. Each corresponds to a protective factor documented in mental health research.
Name your emotions precisely
Understanding, recognizing, and owning one’s emotions are among the identified protective factors. Moving from “I feel bad” to “I feel anger and shame” is not a cosmetic exercise.
This precision reduces the sense of being overwhelmed and turns the emotion into usable information rather than something merely endured.
Maintain a real support network
Two forms of support are distinguished in the literature. Emotional support allows you to confide in someone and be understood. Practical support allows you to count on someone when you need help, for a ride, childcare, a helping hand.
Most people overestimate the first and neglect the second. Yet both offer protection, and not in the same way.
Reframe a situation without denying what’s difficult
Taking a broader view of a situation helps regain room to maneuver, but reframing doesn’t mean minimizing.
The difference is easy to spot. A useful reframe opens up options, whereas disguised denial shuts down the conversation.
Protect the physiological foundations
Sleep, movement, and regular eating aren’t accessories to well-being. They are the conditions under which the brain regulates emotions.
Yet in times of adversity, these are the first routines to collapse. Restoring them, even partially, often produces a faster effect than any amount of introspective work.
Regain a grip on what’s controllable
Adversity is almost always accompanied by a loss of control over the essentials. Identifying the small area where action is still possible restores a sense of effectiveness.
That area is sometimes tiny. It’s enough to interrupt the spiral of helplessness.
Contribute and feel useful
Social participation and a sense of belonging are among the best-established protective factors. Contributing to something bigger than one’s own situation shifts attention and rebuilds self-esteem.
Give meaning to the story
This isn’t about deciding the ordeal was a good thing. It’s about being able to tell it as a chapter rather than an ending.
This ability often relies on a trusting relationship with at least one person. The article on turning challenges into opportunities for growth explores this dimension.
The protective factors behind resilience
Individual strategies don’t work in a vacuum. They rest on three levels of factors, and neglecting the last two accounts for much of what gets wrongly blamed on a lack of willpower.
| Level | Documented protective factors | Lever for action |
| Individual | Self-esteem, recognizing one’s emotions, sense of effectiveness | Personal practices and support |
| Relational | Emotional support, practical support, trust in others | Quality and diversity of close relationships |
| Collective | Sense of belonging, social inclusion, safety | Living environments, school, work, community |
Free practical tools for building resilience and regulating emotions are available for settings that want to act on these three levels.
What resilience is not
It is not the absence of suffering. A resilient person can suffer intensely. The difference lies in what happens next, not in the intensity of the pain.
It is not a performance. There’s no normal timeline for recovering from an ordeal.
It is not a fixed character trait. Resilience is built and rebuilt, at any age.
It is not a command. Using the word to pressure someone to move on adds a sense of failure to suffering that’s already there.
When resilience isn’t enough
Relying on your own resources is useful up to a point. Certain signs indicate that professional support becomes necessary:
- Distress that persists or intensifies over several weeks
- Difficulty meeting responsibilities at work, at school, or at home
- Persistently disturbed sleep
- Marked loss of interest in things that used to bring pleasure
- Gradual withdrawal from close relationships
- Increasing use of alcohol or substances
- Exhaustion that doesn’t ease despite rest
- Dark thoughts or a feeling that nothing will change
Asking for help is not giving up on resilience. It’s activating a protective factor, namely outside support.
On the subject of burnout in particular, the article on understanding and managing burnout offers additional guidance.
Building resilience one step at a time
Resilience can’t be declared or ordered into existence. It’s built through small, repeated acts: naming what you feel, maintaining relationships that hold, protecting your sleep, regaining a small area of control, contributing to something.
And it’s built in environments that make these acts possible. A school where a student feels safe, a workplace where people can talk, a community where one has a place, do more for collective resilience than any individual exhortation.
To turn these markers into concrete actions, videos and tools on resilience and difficult situations are available for free online, alongside listening services available at all times.
Frequently asked questions
Work on mental health promotion presents it as a potential present in everyone, not as a fixed trait assigned at birth. It’s built from individual and collective resources, which explains why support from one’s environment matters as much as personal qualities. It can therefore be strengthened at any stage of life.
No, and this confusion causes harm. Resilience is neither numbness nor invulnerability. A resilient person can suffer enormously from a difficult event. What changes is the ability to adapt flexibly and resume development after the ordeal. Demanding that someone be resilient without acknowledging their pain produces the opposite of the intended effect and feeds a sense of failure.
When distress persists, intensifies, or interferes with daily functioning at work, at school, or in relationships. Persistently disturbed sleep, a marked loss of interest, or dark thoughts warrant professional support. Info-Social 811 allows you to speak with a psychosocial worker at any time, free of charge and confidentially, and to be directed to the resource best suited to the situation.
