5 Ways to Build Resilience Against Oppression
When you have to deal with microaggressions and systemic oppression every day, it can be hard to bounce back and keep going. These things can really wear you down, and as much as we can work to change the systems that lead to our difficulties, we also need to get through the day and wake up tomorrow, ready to do it again.
Which is why building resilience is so vitally important.
But what is resilience?
It’s your ability to recover from whatever difficulties you encounter. Strong resilience can be the difference between someone intentionally using the wrong name for you ruining your day or just making you mad for a few minutes. It can be the difference between being refused treatment by your doctor and giving up, or booking another appointment to advocate for yourself. Or it can just be the difference between dreading going back to work on Monday and feeling refreshed and ready after your weekend.
So how do you develop resilience? Well, it’s simpler than it may seem.
Get enough sleep!!!
Let’s start with the basics. It’s impossible to recover quickly if you’re low on sleep. Have you ever noticed that when you’re sleep deprived, you’re more emotional, more sluggish, and find it harder to handle stress? The opposite of all that is resilience.
Unfortunately, the stress and anxiety of Living In This World can sometimes make it hard to sleep, causing a vicious cycle.
Luckily, I can help you optimize your sleep – I have too many tips for this blog post, but you can get them all here:
A little help from my (plant) friends
If you’re really worked up, it can be hard to calm down and bounce back, even if you do all of the things I suggest in my sleep guide. Sometimes, we just need a little outside help. For this, I love to turn to our plant friends, which can help bring your nervous system into a more restful state. A simple tea like chamomile or lemon balm can soothe you when stress is tying your stomach into knots, and works almost immediately. If you need more consistent daily support, an adaptogen like ashwagandha, rhodiola, Siberian ginseng, or licorice might be what you need. A herbalist or naturopathic doctor can recommend a blend and dose of adaptogens and nervines that would be the safest and most helpful for you.
Photo by Liat Aharoni
Nourish yourself
Nourishing yourself in a way that gives you the energy to recover, the stability to stay level-headed, and the motivation to get at it again can be a game-changer.
But I understand that cooking fancy healthy meals is the last thing on your mind when you come home from a long day of dealing with people’s nonsense. Unfortunately, eating toast for dinner won’t help you recover from the day, leading to another day that wears you down even more, leaving you with only the energy to make toast. And so the cycle continues.
But it doesn’t have to!
Get my guide to 30+ nourishing and delicious meals that can be made when you have exactly zero motivation to cook.
Work on your mindset
Beyond the slow campaign for social equality, and our exhausting individual efforts of self-advocacy, there’s only so much we can do to change how we are treated by the world.
Which leaves one, more immediate factor within our control: how we respond to that treatment.
Challenging internalized beliefs about ourselves, healing trauma, and reframing our responses to poor treatment are all ways that we can prevent small slights from snowballing into issues that take up way too much time and energy.
Far from denying the reality of our external experience, these mindset shifts can instead put us in charge of our internal experience, allowing us to choose not to let injustice take more from us than it already has.
My favourite ways to work on mindset are meditation and therapy.
A little help from my friends
Humans aren’t meant to deal with life alone. Especially if you’re experiencing a lot of stress because you belong to a marginalized community, it can help a lot to connect with other people who have had similar experiences, whether to get advice, get help, or just vent to someone who understands.
If you feel like you don’t have people in your life who can support you in all the areas that you need help with, check out my blog post on community care, which takes you through how to identify gaps and find community to fill them.
Photo by Chona Kasinger for Disabled And Here
When you experience repeated stress it can take a toll on your mental and physical health. Avoid the deterioration of your health and instead bounce back when you encounter obstacles, by building resilience. Make sure your body is getting what it needs, your mindset is working for you, and don’t be afraid to accept outside help.