I count myself as a fairly resilient person. I’ve been through my fair share of hardships in my life. And they have thankfully, brought me to a place where I feel like I am pretty good at handling most things thrown my way.
The list includes:
Calling off a wedding, one month before the big day, and leaving a toxic relationship in 2012.
Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014.
Giving birth to twins vaginally and almost dying from hemorrhaging in 2020.
Being let go from jobs countless times, and once while I was on mat leave in 2021.
So why do I feel like I need to be more resilient?
We all have been gifted with different hardships in life that allow us to develop as people and learn different types of resilience. And while I know my life experiences have taught me to be more resilient… I feel like I’m currently in a place where I’m healing from trauma than feeling more resilient.
I’m treating building resilience as if I wanted to build more muscles. I know it takes consistency and effort.
So I want to tackle one challenge a month in 2023 that can help me become more physically and mentally resilient without the trauma.
I’m hoping that by building this type of resilience I will be able to have a better stress response to physical and emotional stress. That my flight or fight or freeze nervous system won’t be activated all the time!
What do I have planned for my 2023 resilience challenge?
Every single month this year, I’m going to take on a different test or challenge. Each test will help me build mental fortitude, physical resilience or provide me with self-care time to support my physical or mental health.
January = Cold dips 3 times a week
My husband and I did 2 Wim Hof workshops in 2022 and they were amazing. We learned all about the scientific benefits of cold plunges so I’m incorporating these three times into my week. I’m starting slow and just filling my bathtub with cold water. Or I have a bath the night before and let it get cold overnight. I will start increasing the cold by adding ice and potentially even doing a few cold plunges in the Ottawa river (after all it’s January).
February = Wim Hof breathing daily
Along the same lines, I learned how to do the Wim Hof breathing at the 2 workshops. I really love how I feel after doing a few rounds. In 2022, I even tried starting my day with a few rounds of breathing. So in February, I’m going to start my morning before meditation or journaling. Possibly before I even get out of bed with 3 rounds of Wim Hof breathing.
March = 10 daily pull-ups
I have never been able to complete 10 pull-ups. While I won’t be able to complete unsupported pull-ups immediately, I plan on doing 10 banded pull-ups every day to build up my upper body strength.
April = 15 mins of daily sun gazing
Getting enough exposure to the sun each day is important for our circadian rhythm and Vitamin D exposure. So as we shift into Spring I’m going to tackle going out every day and standing and gazing at the morning sunlight.
May = weekly friendship dates
One of my goals in the friendship department is to schedule monthly friendship dates. It’s important for me to nurture my close friendships. However, I know that I need more frequent time with friends so I’m not relying on my husband solely for mental health support. So in May, I’m going to get 1 weekly friendship date in the books!
June = do 1 thing a week that scares me
I’m not actually sure what I’m going to do each week, but this will challenge me to push myself out of my comfort zone (but on my terms).
July = reduce time on Instagram to less than 30 mins a day
I think this one is easy to explain the more we get off our phones the better our lives are. And while I do use my phone for work, my most used apps are Instagram, Prime, and Netflix. And while I have a goal to not watch any TV in August, I want to reduce my screen time in the summer. So I’ll start by reducing my time on Instagram in July.
August = no TV
This one is definitely going to be different as I tend to watch a show every evening to wind down and sometimes during the day when I’m doing administrative work that doesn’t require brain power. Let’s see how many books I read (or listen to) in August!
September = no sugar
I don’t currently eat any refined sugar. However, I’m curious to see how I will feel on no added sugar. So no maple sugar in banana bread, etc. The only sugar that I’ll consume this month will come in the shape of fruit.
October = daily prayer
While I consider myself a Christian, I don’t have regular time with God as we haven’t attended church in the last little while. I’m definitely missing the community that comes from growing up in a Baptist church. And I’m also missing feeling connected to God. So I want to challenge myself to re-commit to spending time talking to God daily.
November = daily time in silence
And while I’m going to focus on talking in October, in November I’m going to turn the tables and focus on listening. This may be in silent prayer or in silent meditation (no guided meditation this month). Regardless, I’m going to carve out time daily to be in silence.
December = 10 daily push-ups
As the months turn colder and we get stuck inside more due to the weather I’m going to challenge myself to continue to foster some strength-building outside of workouts and knock out 10 push-ups daily for my upper body strength.
What can you expect from this substack series?
Once a week, I’m sharing content around my monthly resilience & self-reliance challenges. As I’m tackling 2 challenges this year I’ll have lots to share each month.
While I’m sharing self-reliance learning resources with paid subscribers I’ll also include in paid posts each month the scientific reasonings and resources on how to implement resilience tests for yourself or why you might want to tackle different types of resilient challenges.