Timothy Alexander is a well-known paraplegic football player whose story has inspired millions.
In high school, Timothy Alexander, or, TA, as his friends called him, was a star football player, ranking 8th in the state of Alabama. Unfortunately, he met with an accident in 2008, which left him paralyzed from the neck down. It was a life-altering moment. A state football star who could no longer walk, let alone run across the field and play the sport he loved dearly.
But does the story end here? Is this the Timothy Alexander the world knows? No. After undergoing intensive rehab, he practiced hard (without the use of his legs), and managed to find a spot on the football team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He even received a football sponsorship, becoming the first paraplegic to receive such a scholarship. Commendable, isn't it?
It would have been easy for Timothy to grow bitter and adopt a pessimistic view of life after his accident. But he did not lose sight of his goal. Instead of growing bitter and losing hope in the face of his adversity, he found a way to overcome his setback. Timothy fought back and fought back hard. In other words, he was resilient.
Resilience, as defined by the APA Dictionary of Psychology, is both a process and the outcome of successfully adapting yourself to a challenging life experience. Your mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demand plays a crucial role in this process.
Simply put, resilience is a trait crucial to survival. It not only gets you through the circumstance at the time but also helps you improve your life. Some of the factors that determine the resilience of individuals are:
Regulation of Emotions:
Resilient individuals are remarkably effective at regulating their emotions in times of stress and difficulty. This does not mean they don’t experience strong or negative emotions. It means that such individuals have a high degree of self-awareness with which they can track their emotions as they experience them and have the tools to keep them in check in the heat of the moment.
Locus of Control:
Locus of control is the amount of control an individual feels over the events in their life. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe that they are in control of the outcome of any event that happens in their life. In contrast, individuals with an external locus of control attribute the outcome of an event, whether positive or negative, to chance or fate.
Relationships:
Another important factor contributing to resilience is the quality of relationship with others. Having people in your life, even one person with a robust relationship that you can rely on when things get hard contributes to resilience.
Now let’s have some fun! It’s time to see how resilient you are. Here’s a list of common human traits and reactions. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5, where:
1 = You strongly disagree
2 = You slightly disagree
3 = You are neutral
4 = You slightly agree
5 = You strongly agree
Needless to say, be as honest as you can! Nobody else is watching 😊
What Is Your Score?
The highest score you can achieve on this test is 55. In contrast, the lowest score you can achieve is 11. Score each item in the list and add the scores up. Use the sum to interpret your own resilience.
Note: This test and its results are for general use only. It must not be used in place of psychological tests administered by well-trained mental health practitioners.
Resilience is the interplay between environmental factors like social support and personal factors like inherent traits. So what if you weren’t born with a high resilience? Not all individuals are born resilient. But you can learn to become resilient by adopting certain practices, regulating your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. At Frolific, we teach students to become resilient through our EQ for Leadership course.
Resilience can help you overcome obstacles and challenges more effectively. It can help you deal with hardships positively and inculcate a survivor mindset. Remember, challenges don’t get easier as you grow, you become stronger and more resilient.
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