Madden

Trenton

Episode 4: Building Resilience: Overcoming Adversity and Bouncing Back Stronger

Madden: Introduction: Another day is another great day to tune back into T&M’s let’s talk. On today’s
episode we will be exploring Building Resilience and how overcoming adversity and bouncing back
stronger strengthens our resilience. Resilience by definition is the ability to withstand adversity life
throws us at and bounce back.

 A time when we could recall when we were resilient. (In sports, work etc.)
 A time when we were mentally resilient (got over something that affected us mentally break up,
etc)

Segment 1: Understanding resilience.

Trenton: The Oxford Dictionary defines resilience as “the capacity to withstand or to recover
quickly from difficulties; toughness.” Resilience is significant to our growth as individuals
because It allows us to conquer our tribulations which in the end makes us stronger, tougher.

 Madden: Resilience builds strength, Trent tell me about a time where you know
resilience made you stronger and develop as a human.
Madden: Resilience is a skill that we develop over time due to the psychological stressors we
encounter daily. If we can bounce back and adapt to these stressors, we eventually grow the
skill of resilience.
Madden: However, the most important part of being resilient is being able to have a resilient
mindset. A mindset in which you face your problems head on with the ideology of “I'm going to
get past this, I'm going to beat this.”

 Trenton: From your personal experiences do you find that a resilient mindset helps you
face your stressors?

10 Second Pause

Segment 2: The Science behind Resilience

Madden: In addition to neurobiology Trenton stated resilience is also influenced by our genetics,
surrounding environment, social support, and personality. All these factors contribute to how we
respond to stress that is detrimental to our mental health.

 State the idea of neural plasticity (Madden)

Segment 3: Real life stories of Resilience

 Trenton: Tell me about a time when you faced adversity, and you bounced back.
 Trenton: What inspired you to bounce back?
 Ask Trenton the same questions he asked you.

Madden: I want to now talk about an inspiring story of resilience. It’s hard to picture something without
having a connection to the real-life world. Taken from the YourHealthMatters website where stories are
shared, we found Jason’s story surrounding his fear of death to ALS (What Stephen Hawking had). Due
to his fear of dying the same we his dad did, he developed depression and OCD (obsessive compulsive
disorder). Jason was never visually affected, but he stated that random thoughts throughout life would
occur, such as “Jason, you are becoming sick, and you will die. Jason, you are a failure.
Jason, there is no point.”

Madden: Trenton, have you ever experienced repressive thoughts that occur in any given moment of
your life?

Trenton: To continue with the story, Jason was consumed by darkness, and decided to do something
about it. Jason established good mental fitness and was able to seek help from professionals. Jason
began to exercise regularly, participate in acceptance and commitment therapy as well as start to
meditate. Jason states,” The thing about surviving mental illness is that it has empowered me. I am a
much more aware, sincere, and grateful father, husband, friend, colleague, worker and manager. Due to
the resilience of wanting to find an answer, wanting to get better, I have found peace.”

Madden: Jason’s story reminds us that we are never alone, but to battle our triumphs we must reach
out, we can’t be helped; if we are unwilling to reach out for help.

Trenton: How do you think adversity shapes our character?

10 SECOND BREAK

Segment 4: Building Personal Resilience.

Trenton: How we all personally experience adversity is different, however there are many coping
mechanisms and strategies that result in building resilience.

Madden What Strategies do you use to build resilience?

Strategies include:

 Establishing Goals.
 Develop Problem Solving Skills.
 Act (Just do it)
 This results in becoming a positive person over a negative person.
 Find a sense of purpose in what you do.

Trenton: Do you notice that when you think positively that you are more resilient?

 Discuss and provide insightful thoughts.

Madden: I encourage our listeners to view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than
detriments to our lives.

Conclusion:

Trenton: Resilience is the ability to respond to adversity in a positive way. It’s our driving force as
humans to bounce back. However, resilience is an ongoing process, we are always facing different
challenges that each affect us differently. Resilience is built through our adaptive instincts. As humans
we have faced many mental challenges as a collective, and the key to added strength is the eagerness to
always want to be more.

Outro:
Madden: We would like to thank our audience for tuning into another episode of T&M’s Let’s Talk. Until
the next episode where we will explore the positive and negative affects of sports on an individual's
mental health.

However, Before I end this episode, I want to leave you guys: the audience with a piece of inspiration
that helps me remain resilient. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it’s the courage to continue that
counts,” Winston J Churchill.