Resolve to be resilient

As we kick off 2024, many people have optimistically made resolutions for the new year ahead — plenty of which will be broken within a few weeks. So if longevity is what you’re after this year, why not resolve to be resilient in 2024? To help, we asked four Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) alumni for their tips on mental, physical, financial and professional resiliency. 

Dr. Jenny Liu’s background is in the science of stress and resilience. She works with stakeholders to identify the determinants of resilience in different communities, and she supports efforts to promote or build resilience using a number of evidence-informed strategies and approaches. She is also the creator of a mental health app (opens in new window) , called Multi-System Resilience (external link, opens in new window) , which helps people gauge their resilience and offers tips on how to cope with stress. 

Dr. Liu offers five simple strategies to foster resilience in your everyday life:

1.  Introduce routines
   Unpredictability and uncontrollability are top contributors to mental and physical stress. Where possible, ease routines into your lifestyle to reduce sources of stress and create predictability and control.
2. Set achievable boundaries
   Stress is cumulative, and experience of stress in one area may have a rippling effect on other areas of your life. Set reasonable boundaries, such as social media use and hours worked (especially in working from home situations), to restore balance.  
3. Manage expectations of stress
   Stress is not always bad for us. At times, it can be motivating. Research has indicated that how we think of stress can impact how we respond to it. Shifting our mindset to identify what can be challenging and controllable in stressful situations can help us develop reasonable strategies to cope with stressors.
4. Recognize your own resilience
   Setbacks happen in life and sometimes a failure can make us feel like we are not resilient. Yet, you’ve made it this far in life and chances are, you have learned a thing or two. Reflect on past learnings, count your successes, and know that managing stress and being “resilient” is a process, much like building a muscle.
5. Monitor your resilience
   Understanding what our challenges and needs are, and where we can draw our resilience from, can be an important step in building resilience. To monitor your resilience, check out a free tool online and in the app stores: msmrtool.com (external link, opens in new window) .

Graphic Communications graduate Alexander Karpazis implemented the valuable skills gained throughout his academic career and successfully applied them in another industry. From design and marketing to management and communications, he utilized the foundational knowledge offered in his program and at TMU and applied it to his lifelong passion for video games. He now proudly serves as creative director at Ubisoft, the biggest video game studio in the world.

“The first step to resilience is understanding that you will make mistakes in your career,” said Karpazis. “Sometimes it will be a small mistake, sometimes it will be a colossal one.” When it comes to bouncing back and showing resilience, Karpazis shares two important factors: 

1. Trust
   You need to work in an environment where people trust one another, and even when that trust is broken, you know that it can be rebuilt. If there is no trust to begin with, the people who work with you will see only an opportunity to pounce on someone’s failings and try to make it a victory for themselves. It is very difficult to be resilient when your environment doesn’t allow for it. Trust is something you don’t always have control over.
2. Confidence
   To dwell on a mistake and make it define you means that you’ll never recover from it. You may not even learn from it. The adage “fake it ’till you make it” extends to resiliency and requires a confidence that may not always feel earned. But facing challenges and making mistakes is absolutely a way to earn that confidence, and that process shows resilience in your career. Confidence is something only you control.

Harprit Gill is a financial services professional, educator, community leader and entrepreneur. She has taken her passion for community work and entrepreneurship, and combined it with her love of educating people on financial literacy and providing financial solutions. Through her own experiences, she noticed the lack of financial literacy, and the barriers to accessing sound financial resources and advisors.

Gill provides these five tips to become more financially resilient: 

1. Increase your financial literacy
   Understanding the rules of money and how it works will help you rewire the way you look at money, which will tremendously improve your financial resilience and prevent painful consequences. 
2. Practice the habit of delayed gratification
   We live in a hyper-consumer society where we are conditioned to work and spend our money on material things, but this cycle of earning and spending could lead to serious financial consequences if you don’t have a solid financial plan. Budget for the things you want and put the rest away for the future.
3. Build an emergency fund
   Unexpected expenses will come up, so it’s important to build an emergency fund to prevent yourself from being in a cycle of bad debt or pulling money out of your long-term savings plans, such as retirement.
4. Protect yourself and your income with insurance
   Your greatest asset is your health and your ability to earn income. If you get a critical illness or pass away prematurely, it will impact you and your family’s lifestyle. Insurance is a great way to protect your health and your income.
5. Pay yourself and invest
   It’s important to pay yourself every time you get paid, even if that just means putting away a few dollars to start. It’s the habit of saving that’s most important. Once you get into the habit, you can gradually increase the amount. However, you want to ensure your money is being invested while saving because the value of your dollar is depleting every day as a result of inflation.

Track and field star Marissa Papaconstantinou won a bronze medal in the 100m sprint at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and a bronze medal in the 200m sprint at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. In 2024, she will represent Canada at the Paralympics to be held in Paris, France. She is a hospital ambassador at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and the first Canadian female para-athlete to be sponsored by Nike.

Despite many highs in her journey in sports, Papaconstantinou also experienced some lows. “It’s taken a lot of ‘failures’ to learn how to overcome obstacles and be the best version of myself within my sport and beyond,” Papaconstantinou said. “Some of the tips I’ve learned below have helped me get through some of the most pressure-sensitive moments, like stepping on the start line at the Paralympics to race to a podium finish.” 

1. Find a resilient outlook
   Failures have shaped the person I’ve become. They have made me stronger and more confident so that I can deal with any obstacles that come my way. Understand that it’s okay to fail and realize a lot of battles are something happening for you and not to you.
2. Find balance and remind yourself of your “why”
   My most successful moments were when I had a healthy balance between my life, sport and work. Reminding yourself of your “why” — why you commit to doing what you do is a helpful way to check in with yourself. Reminding yourself of your goals is an excellent way to acknowledge your progress, even if, sometimes, it might feel like you’re taking steps back. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, mindful meditation and meditative breathing exercises, even for just five minutes a day, can help you overcome feelings of anxiety and pressure.
3. Find inspiration and growth
   In track and field, resilience is required because you are constantly mentally and physically pushing limits. This pressure has taught me how to fail because growth comes from being uncomfortable. As people, we are continually evolving and reinventing ourselves every day. Adapting to our ever-changing environments allows us to continue to make steps toward our goals, often by doing things outside our comfort zones. It’s essential to surround yourself with people who uplift and inspire you to be the best version of yourself. It takes a great support system to get through challenging times. Whether it’s a friend, family member, co-worker or teammate, choose a support system that will encourage you when dealing with mental or physical challenges.