Kira Newman's article, Five Science Backed Strategies to Build Resilience, was very insightful into how we can become more resilient in the face of trauma. One of her points is to build self-compassion towards your current lot in life. Especially in the face of significant trauma or stress. I believe that this is one of the most important talking points in today's world as we have moved towards such a fast-paced environment that rewards instant gratification and subsequently, quick successes. Oftentimes, we find ourselves in a position where many facets of our life are "off" to some degree and the stresses of such issues mount up overtime. From there, we can find ourselves in a position where chronic-stress leads to depression, anxiety, and so forth. Specifically in the context of menta health, having compassion for yourself and displaying a level of EQ is one of the most beneficial things one can do for themselves. I have spent most of my adult-youth advocating for mental health (through NAMI) and have seen, time and time again, the detrimental impact that comes along with emotional suppression. This is an issue that is especially prevalent in men, as one of the primary gender expectations that society has reinforced is this idea that you must be strong in the face of adversity and suppress your emotions. Men, oftentimes, do not find compassion within themselves to understand that, yes- life is not only difficult, but it is our personal responsibility to healthily deal with our own emotions, otherwise you may deal with them in a way that negatively impacts yourself as well as others. Overall, I think emotional compassion is really important for all of us.
I agree, I think that compassion, both for ourselves and for others is one of the most important steps in dealing with trauma and stress. We have to be kind in order to build the space to heal. I think that modern culture often tries to conflate pain with weakness and weakness for failure, so we are inclined to police our own pain as a negative reflection upon ourselves, even though the causes of our pain are very commonly outside of our control. That is another reason why having caring relationships with other trusted people is so important for recovery, because others may still be kind to us, even when we find it hard to be kind to ourselves.
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