11 Ways to Build Resilience

Discover ways to overcome adversity and put a positive spin on any setback.

- By Stephanie Watson

Some people cope with adversity more easily than others. They have a positive outlook and resilience that seem to come naturally. But the fact is, resilience is something that anyone can develop.

Take Kat Elton. Diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at age 2, she has no memory of moving easily without pain. “Arthritis is tough,” says the 51-year-old. “It’s made me less physically hardy and less able to follow the career path I wanted to follow. It negatively affects every aspect of my life.”

In her early 30s, she had a debilitating flare and it seemed that arthritis would take over her life. At that point, she made a deliberate decision to find a way to live with it – to find resilience. “With it comes a lot of strength, an ability to find a different perspective when I’m in a downward spiral,” she says.

Elton, an occupational therapist in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, started writing books as a way to help herself and others, including A Resilient Life: Learning to Thrive, Not Just Survive with Rheumatoid Arthritis (2010, KatElton.com).

Resilience is the ability to adapt to difficult situations, like living with a chronic disease, and bounce back from them.