The resilient personality: are you a strong person?

The resilient personality is characterized by three essential factors. which ones?

"We are what we make of what they made of us."

-Jean Paul Sartre

We cannot choose our life circumstances, but we can modulate our thoughts and we can modulate our thoughts and attitudes to what surrounds us. In this way, indirectly, we can shape our circumstances.

What is your personality like?

Once upon a time there was a farmer who took care of some horses to help him with the agricultural work on his small farm. One day, the foreman gave him some bad news: the best of his horses had fallen into a well. The farmer could not believe it and rushed to the place, where he could see the horse at the bottom of the well. With all his strength, he tried to pull the horse out. Seeing that it was impossible and unable to find a solution to get the horse out of the hole, he had no choice but to ask the foreman to pour dirt into the hole so that the horse would be buried right there.

The foreman began to pour sand. The horse, eager to go on living, did not allow itself to be buried by the earth, did not allow himself to be buried by the falling earth and used it to climb up, with great effort, until he finally managed to get out of the hole..

What is your attitude in life: do you let the earth engulf you or do you use it to climb?

Characteristics of a strong personality

A resilient resilient is one who despite suffering problems and even disorders that could destabilize, is able to maintain strength, to resist and to get out of it.. 

These types of individuals are not immune to the life events we all experience, such as the death of a loved one, a breakup, a bad job situation... but they are different from others in that they are able to stoically accept these setbacks in life and find the strength to move forward.

What traits define a resilient personality

Suzanne C. Kobasaa psychologist at the University of Chicagoconducted several research studies in which she found that individuals with resilient personalities have a number of characteristics in common. They tend to be highly committed, controlling, and challenge-oriented individuals. (Kobasa, 1979).

These conditions make them better able to cope with what life throws at them and to overcome these adversities more quickly and durably than other people.

Components of the resilient personality

Resilience: the essence of the resilient personality

Maddi and Kobasa also found that resilient personality type is an important predictor of psychological resilience. Resilience is often defined as the ability of individuals to overcome periods of emotional Pain and adversity.

The way in which the resilient personality confers resilience appears to be a combination of cognitive elements, behavioral mechanisms, and certain biophysical behaviors. Succinctly, it can be stated that as stressful circumstances increase, so does the physical and mental strain on the individual, and if this situation is sufficiently intense and prolonged, health and performance imbalances are to be expected (Maddi, 2004).

In summary, Maddi (2006) argues that the resilient personality style has a moderating effect in this process, encouraging effective mental and behavioral coping, building and utilizing social support, and engaging in effective self-care and health practices.

• Control refers to the subject's ability to find their intrinsic motivations. That is, they are able to feel motivated by something without the need to be directly compensated by a third person. They are passionate about what they do. This attitude helps them to feel themselves, and to enjoy their time. They tend to experience greater control over their lives and, therefore, know that they can cope with their problems, because they depend on themselves.
• The challenge: people with a taste for challenges consider change as something inherent to life. They understand changes not as failures but as beneficial challenges for their individual development, as an opportunity to improve and continue progressing in any area of life.
Recommended text: "The 10 habits of resilient people". Bibliographic references:
• • Maddi, S. R., & Kobasa, S. C. (1984). The hardy executive : Health under stress. Homewood, IL:: Dow Jones-Irwin.
  • Maddi, S. R. (2004). "Hardiness: An operationalization of existential courage". Journal of Humanistic Psychology 44 (3): 279-298. doi:10.1177/0022167804266101.
  • Maddi, S. R. (2006). “Hardiness: The courage to grow from stresses”. Journal of Positive Psychology 1 (3): 160–168. doi:10.1080/17439760600619609.