Flexibility and Resilience: Use Your Mind and Body to Transform Your Well-Being
Use flexibility and resilience to create
Balance and well-being
Your well-being is heavily influenced by your resilience. Yet, just the word resilience might cause an uptick in your heart rate. In healthcare, this word gets thrown around a lot.
It can seem like the word has been weaponized against healthcare professionals, and it's really a code word meaning "you just need to take what we hand you and deal with it."
But true resilience isn't about enduring more. It's about adaptability and using challenges as a springboard to go beyond tolerating toward proactive thriving.
If we dig deeper, we'll find flexibility is the key to resilience. But it's not a one-sided affair. The kind of flexibility needed for resilience involves your whole being, mind and body, and a healthy respect for the powerful connection between the two.
Flexibility: A Foundation of Well-being
Well-being means you've reached a "state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous."
It depends on your ability to stay strong, both mentally and physically, even when life throws unexpected challenges your way. It's not just enduring. It's feeling balanced and adaptable and creating a sense of control, even when things are most definitely out of control. And let's face it: that can be your experience in healthcare much of the time.
The mind and body connection is central to finding balance and calm in the chaos of life. When your mind is stressed, your body feels it. When your body is tight and tense, it affects your ability to fully access your ability to reason or be creative.
It's all interconnected. You can create a positive feedback loop by focusing on flexibility and adaptability in both areas. By nurturing this connection, you can build a strong mind and body that helps you withstand the (sometimes outrageous) demands of your work and life.
Mental Flexibility: Know When to Hang On and When to Let Go
What is mental flexibility? It's the ability to shift perspective, adapt to a life in flux, and let go of rigid expectations. Instead of fighting what is, mental flexibility helps you roll with the punches without feeling stuck or overwhelmed.
To be clear, having mental flexibility isn't about tricking your brain into accepting the unacceptable.
Instead, it's the capacity to navigate challenges with a clear mind and see opportunity, rather than feeling trapped, frustrated, and helpless. It's bringing your innate creativity online so you can focus on solutions rather than problems.
This kind of flexibility supports your well-being because it helps you bounce back and move forward when things aren't going as planned.
Consider the impact when mental flexibility is missing: you become overwhelmed or stressed. More likely than not, that stress also impacts your body. Your shoulders and neck might tighten and squeeze in, pulling you into a hunched, constricted posture without you realizing it.
This is how stress and mental rigidity create tension in our bodies.
What can we do to create an agile mind that supports a supple body?
How to Build Mental Flexibility:
Practice reframing situations.
Start asking yourself, "Is there another way to see this?"
Make this a practice before you're ever put in a difficult situation. Start by looking for different perspectives in situations where your stress and the stakes are low. The more you practice, the easier it is for your mind to automatically start finding new ways to view a situation.
For example, instead of feeling overwhelmed by your packed schedule, you might take time to appreciate that you're in demand and have patients who trust you or consider this an opportunity to delegate or create and enforce new rules around how you want your day scheduled.
Embrace curiosity.
When something challenging comes up, take a deep breath and pause. Let curiosity help you release judgment. Instead of labeling something as "good' or "bad," ask, "How can I make this work for me?"
When you ask "how" questions, you let the more creative side of your brain go to work and increase the likelihood that you'll be able to learn and grow from whatever comes your way.
Sure, maybe this time you got tripped up by a frustrating situation. But you can harness curiosity to open your mind, explore solutions, and learn to adapt so the next time you're better able to handle the situation (or keep it from happening at all).
Let go of perfectionism.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
Keep this mantra with you at all times. Perfectionism leads you to believe there is only one "right" way. It keeps your thinking rigid. Embracing "good enough" frees your mind to quit searching for "the" way so you can find "a" way.
You might be surprised at how quickly you can adapt and find solutions when freed from the tyranny of perfectionism.
When you're able to release rigid thinking and embrace mental flexibility, that agility supports your mind AND body wellness. Learning to reduce stress before it takes over is a crucial aspect of supporting your well-being.
Physical Flexibility: Make a Move Toward Freedom
Let's shift gears. Physical flexibility isn't about learning to twist yourself into a pretzel for the benefit of others (either literally or figuratively). It doesn't just help you move better. It has a positive impact on your mind, too.
A flexible body knows how to release tension and boost your mood. When your body feels loose and limber, everything seems a bit easier and your mind feels lighter, too.
On the flip side, imagine you're in the middle of a long workday. Your back is aching, and your hips are stiff from standing or sitting for too long. It feels like your body is working against you. Despite your best efforts, you may feel irritable, and your mental clarity and adaptability suffer.
Why? Because your body is screaming for attention. And that discomfort makes it more difficult to focus. You can even start to feel more stressed and anxious. Tension in your body affects your mental flexibility and makes it harder to think creatively, problem-solve, or handle seemingly trivial challenges with a calm mindset.
How to Build Physical Flexibility:
Incorporate daily stretching.
Incorporating a daily stretching routine doesn't have to be time-consuming to create a significant impact. Choose a handful of stretches and make them part of your self-care routine.
Try starting your day with a short routine of static (slow and sustained) or dynamic (gently moving) stretches, and pay attention to how you feel physically and mentally as you approach your day.
Move regularly throughout the day.
We were never made to sit all day. Studies show that our increasingly sedentary lifestyle increases our dementia and mortality risks.
When you're locked into one position for an extended period of time, your muscles tighten. So, get up and move every hour or so. Talk a walk, perform some stretches, or simply shake your limbs and wiggle your spine. It doesn't have to be complicated. Just move.
Mind your posture.
Muscle tension due to poor posture may have nothing to do with work stressors, but that doesn't mean the resulting pain doesn't affect your mood and performance during the day.
Take some time to research the best postures for your daily activities. For example, most of us inadvertently contribute to regular neck and shoulder tension because we don't realize how to properly support the weight of our head as we type away into our electronic medical records.
Strengthen to support fluidity.
Muscle discomfort isn't always due to an overly constricted muscle.
Sometimes, your muscles can feel tight because they're overstretched or they (or surrounding muscles) are weak. If you're unsure whether you need to stretch or strengthen, invest in your well-being by seeking the advice of a professional.
Just as poor mental flexibility can negatively affect how we feel physically, stiffness and rigidity in our body can impact our mental well-being.
Creating a Positive Mind and Body Wellness Feedback Loop
Creating mental and physical flexibility requires our ongoing attention. When we consciously work to integrate them, we can let our mind and body work synergistically.
Here's how:
Incorporate mental check-ins with your stretches. As you're stretching, whether in the AM or during your daily movement breaks, ask yourself, "How can I be more flexible today?" Set an intention to create awareness and stay mentally and physically adaptable.
Pair movement with mindset shifts. Let your body be your ally when trying on new thoughts or facing challenges. For example, take a deep breath and stand tall as you mentally consider how to rise above a challenge, use movement to create a physical gesture of pushing negative thoughts out of your space, or hike to a scenic vista and use the view to expand your thinking.
Practice mindfulness. Flexibility often comes from being present in the moment rather than focusing on the past or future. When you're mindful, it's easier to notice when your thoughts are pulling you off center or your body is carrying tension. Use mindful focus to create awareness so you can act instead of react.
Using Flexibility and Adaptability for True Well-Being
Flexibility and adaptability are essential for your well-being. Putting these traits to work makes you more resilient, but it's not about pushing yourself harder or handling more stress to accommodate someone else.
Your resilience is for you.
By learning how to flow with life's challenges, you can stay flexible and create a greater sense of ease in mind and body. Rather than breaking or collapsing, resilience lets you recover faster, handle stress more effectively, and proactively seek (and find) balance regardless of what comes your way.
Rather than reacting to survive, flexibility and resilience let you approach life with curiosity and creativity that allow you to intentionally design your life and thrive.
Take a deep breath, reach your arms out as wide as you can, and know that you have the strength to create the life you want.
Charity is a physician and burnout coach helping introverts in healthcare escape feelings of apathy, irritability, and resentment brought on by the increasing demands and decreasing rewards of medicine.
She uses her 20 years of experience in clinical medicine combined with coaching to help introverts discover ways to be diligent, thoughtful clinicians while prioritizing their needs and protecting their energy. She wants you to know you don’t have to feel guilty for wanting a thriving life inside and outside of medicine.