Resilience = optimism

  • Published
  • By Nancy Koch-Castillo
  • 412th Test Wing community liasion coordinator
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Now that we have entered a New Year what goals do you dare to achieve? What kind of attitude will you portray? Most of you have heard 90% of what we accomplish in life is based on our attitudes. Acknowledging your future endeavors coincides with resilience, which involves being adaptable, flexible and intelligent. Your first objective is realizing who you are and what you want to do.

Throughout life there are setbacks, challenges and personal losses we all deal with. The trick is to get through the setbacks and eventually move on. Examples are: losing a job, a family member, getting divorced, not getting your choice assignment, living with an illness, dealing with an injury from a deployment or surviving a natural disaster.

Resilience is the process of adapting positively in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy or even significant sources of stress - such as family and relationship problems, serious health issues, or workplace and financial situations. People who have learned resilience can "bounce back" from difficult experiences. Studies have shown that resilience is more often ordinary, not extraordinary.

In order to get from your beginning point to your endpoint you need to have the desire to make realistic goals and follow through with a step by step process of achieving them. You need to have a positive outlook about yourself and where you are in your life at that moment in time; hence the word optimism. Allowing yourself to be an optimist enables you to expect good things to happen in your life. You will also need to have the proper skills to communicate and problem solve with others around you. Finally, you will need to be able to manage your feelings and impulses so they do not get in the way of achieving your goals.

Last March, Edwards started offering Resilience training at the First Term Airman Center every third Wednesday of the month. We currently have five highly trained Master Resilience Trainers here at Edwards:

Jennifer Housholder
Master Sgt. Jesus Reyes
1st Lt. Whitney Mithun
1st Lt. Christopher Talbot
Tech. Sgt. Justin Clark.

If any Edwards' member is interested in attending the six-hour Resilience course offered at the First Term Airman Center the third Wednesday of every month please contact Nancy Koch-Castillo at (661) 277-6711; or email her at nancy.kochcastillo.1@us.af.mil.

- Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. - Helen Keller