In a previous post, I shared Linda Graham’s views on resilience from an excerpt from her article Bouncing Back :Rewiring the Brian for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being. After further reading, Graham also discusses the importance of having courage when creating a more positive outlook on life.
We have the ability to experience great personal growth when engaging in new things. Often people are scared to dive into new, uncharted territory and have difficulty expanding their horizons in life. In order to overcome our fear of the unfamiliar, we rely on the neurotransmitter dopamine.
In every day situations, dopamine levels rarely fluctuate. It is when something unexpected occurs that dopamine levels change and create inner feelings of tension. This explains why people feel uneasy and scared when they are about to do something new or unexpected.
By doing something that scares us, we are actively putting ourselves in an uncomfortable situation in order to have a new experience. By facing the new situation, the previous feelings of fear associated with the experience are paired or replaced by the courageous response.
Linda Graham recommends an exercise to the public that will help individuals rewire their brains to face new situations with courage. In this exercise, the public is encouraged to do one scary thing every day. First, individuals must pick one fear to focus on. After making a decision, that individual must face that fear. After repeating this exercise for several years, Graham says people will start to notice a change in the way they feel about approaching scary situations.
Instead of feeling timid, afraid, and uneasy, your body will become so used to doing new things that you will instead start facing your fears with a much more positive attitude. You will gain confidence in your abilities to be successful and start believing in yourself. This is an example of how you can rewire your brain from being afraid to courageous and resilient.
Dare to challenge yourself, and test your limits. I think Graham’s advice is a great way to gain confidence in our abilities and increase our self love and appreciation. By consistently encountering new situations, we will learn to better cope with struggles and become more resilient. When we are faced with something scary in the future, we will have the tools to recover much more quickly.