One of the most fundamental elements of human life is healthy relationships. Relationships are necessary for the betterment of our mental and emotional health.
Strong relationships must be present in our lives to help support our personal growth and empower us when we encounter difficulties.
Relationships are a vehicle for self-discovery. As we navigate close relationships with the people in our lives, we learn more about ourselves and our negative and positive traits.
Relationships positively contribute to our sense of belonging and security and help us in many practical ways, including building our resilience.
We must have a strong level of resilience to have the best quality of life we can.
Resilience impacts every area of our lives. But what exactly is resilience, and how do relationships increase resilience? We will answer these questions and many others as we explore the concept of resilience below.
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What is Resilience?
Resilience is the ability to navigate through life with ease and emotional stability, regardless of our circumstances. A strong resilience level helps us bounce back from life’s setbacks, trials, and adversity while strengthening us.
Resilience builds our character and ultimately helps us become the best version of ourselves.
Resilience also impacts our ability to regulate ourselves healthily and emotionally. It influences the depth of our maturity, flexibility, positive mindset, and problem-solving skills.
Resilience helps us learn how to adapt to and recover from life challenges quickly, moving on even stronger and more empowered than before.
8 Ways Relationships Increase Resilience
1. Relationships Grow Our Resilience
Whether we even realize it or not, the relationships in our lives are constantly growing our level of resilience. Relationships take a lot of intentionality and effort. Any time we put hard work into something, our resilience grows.
The act of merely participating in a relationship builds our resilience. The many benefits relationships add to our lives further develop our resilience level, which we will discuss in detail below.
2. Creating a Support Network and a Sense of Community
Relationships create a structure of support in a person’s life. The sense of belonging we feel when we have a strong support network works wonders for our mental health, improving our ability to navigate life with strength.
Knowing that, no matter what happens, we have a strong group of people supporting and encouraging us can be a game changer in our ability to handle difficulties.
3. Emotional Connection
Relationships provide an emotional connection, which creates depth and meaning in our lives. They give us a safe emotional space to share our feelings freely, knowing we will be supported and championed by those around us.
When we experience an emotional connection with others, we are encouraged, and it helps us feel less alone in this world.
Loneliness is one of the scariest feelings. After experiencing prolonged loneliness, we can end up in a mentally dark place. Humans need to feel an inherent sense of community, developed through emotional connection in relationships.
When you’re closely emotionally connected with your loved ones, you experience a depth of emotions. Joy feels even more joyful, and sadness feels less isolating. Having someone who loves you along for the ride of life empowers you in just about every way.
4. Problem Solving
Relationships are very beneficial in assisting with and building problem-solving skills. Your partner and all relational roles in your life provide you with a supportive sounding board and plenty of perspective as you work through the circumstances you face.
How we view our circumstances can greatly impact our ability to feel like we can handle them, and gaining alternative perspectives is a large part of this.
Sometimes, we benefit from getting out of our heads and hearing someone else’s interpretation of a situation. This can also help us view our circumstances in a new light.
Acquiring the perspectives of others is a wonderful tool for our emotional coping. It strengthens our problem-solving skills because we begin to view situations through a more well-rounded lens.
Additionally, when we gain the perspectives of our loved ones, we receive advice from them. When you receive advice from those who know you best and truly care for you, empowerment and healthy problem-solving will follow.
5. Cope with Adversity
Relationships help us cope with adversity. When feeling down or experiencing hardship, we may need a shoulder to cry on or a “cheerleader” to hype us up to regain our self-confidence.
Relationships provide much-needed emotional support and practical help as we navigate adversity, ultimately increasing our resilience.
The love and care of our partner and other loved ones comfort us during times of adversity, which is sometimes all we need to feel strengthened and position ourselves for a comeback.
The advice given by loved ones helps us decipher how to handle the adversity we’re facing.
6. Manage Stress
A key to managing stress is surrounding yourself with meaningful relationships and people you know you can depend on. Humans are social beings, and we depend on the support and encouragement of the people we love.
Our loved ones cheer us on, give us helpful advice, and just give us their presence, which is so simple and often enough to make us feel stronger. Having a loving partner to confide in or a supportive family to surround ourselves with can greatly enhance our stress management capabilities.
7. Providing Functional Help
Relationships add so many great qualities to our lives, and among these is the practical help the people around us provide. We’ve all heard of the concept: “It takes a village.” This is usually said about raising a child, but it’s an accurate statement for any phase or area of life.
We aren’t meant to do life alone; we’re stronger when we help each other. The people in our village, from our partners to our neighbors and everyone in between, can help us manage the circumstances of our life in practical ways.
This can involve picking up the kids from school or grabbing us a coffee on the way to a meeting. A domestic, romantic relationship can also involve equitably splitting household chores so one person isn’t burdened.
We can also provide functional help to our loved ones, and usually, the more we help each other, the more we receive help when we need it ourselves, too. What you put out, you will likely receive in turn.
Relationships aren’t wholly transactional, but showing our loved ones through our actions that we care about them goes a long way in deepening relationships.
8. An Incredible Teaching Tool
Relationships are an incredible teaching tool, whether we like (and realize it) or not. We learn so much through watching others and seeing how they respond to life’s many adventures. By observing others, we can learn what works and doesn’t, choose what to emulate, and disregard for ourselves.
When we observe our partner or loved ones encountering difficult situations, we can support them in thriving. We can then take the constructive things we witnessed them do and replicate them for ourselves the next time we experience difficulty.
The Importance of Resilience
Why is resilience important? Why do we need to grow resilience in life? Resilience is the ultimate key to positive mental health and emotional stability. It helps us healthily navigate many ever-changing circumstances, allowing us to thrive instead of just surviving.
Having a stronger level of resilience is correlated to higher levels of success in relationships and life in general. If you navigate life’s many changes and trials with a positive mindset and healthy affect, you are more likely to flourish in adversity and strengthen your emotional coping abilities.
This will contribute greatly to your personal growth and development, making you the best version of yourself that you can be (which will also contribute to making your relationships healthy.) It’s a reciprocal cycle in the best way. Developing resilience is a necessary and enriching aspect of life.
The Bottom Line
We all want someone to share life’s wins with and comfort when we’re down.
The supportive and loving presence of loved ones increases our resilience, empowering us to be the best version of ourselves.
Though relationships can be hard work, as they take effort and intentionality, they are always worth the reward we gain.
