Assessing and Developing Your Resiliency Resources

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Can you think of 20 Things you like to do?

How do you keep your resiliency resources up? What are you doing to take care of yourself? Try this simple exercise:

• Get a blank sheet of paper.
• Number 1-20.
• Make a list of twenty things that you like to do.

These do not have to be things that you are currently doing, but anything that you have ever enjoyed.

In doing this exercise you may notice something unusual. Many people do. You become aware that you cannot even come up with twenty things that you like to do. This observation can become distressing when you think of the possibilities. How many options to enjoy something does life offer? Probably hundreds of thousands and perhaps several million. Let’s suppose that there are a million possibilities and you can’t even think of twenty options. What does this suggest to you? You have a limited repertoire.

With such limited choices it is like going to the grocery store when you are very hungry and finding that there are only three items on the shelves and you can’t stand any of them. You now have to eat something you do not like or do without. With limited choices for enjoying life you will have difficulty in keeping your resiliency resources up.

Developing Your Resources

How can you add to your list of thing you enjoy? One way is to get another person to make their own list of what they like to do and then compare. In so doing each person will be reminded of things they like to do but had forgotten about. These can be added to the list of activities. Try this with several people and the list will continue to grow.

Categories of Enjoyment

Also, consider the fact that there are two basic categories of things that you enjoy.

• One consists of those things that you like to do because they are fun.
• The other category is those things you like because they give you a sense of accomplishment when you do them.

For example, washing the dishes. It might be that on some days the only time you know that something was accomplished is when you start with dirty dishes and finish with clean ones. Other examples might be cleaning a closet, cooking a meal, or cutting the grass.

Be sure that your list of things you like to do has items from both categories of fun and accomplishment.

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