Resilience: ‘T’ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)’

Resilience can mean the ability of a person to solve problems and bounce back from difficult situations. That, at least, is the definition a group of researchers from the University of Washington gave to resilience when they surveyed a cadre of 1,574 people with a range of chronic conditions that included multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, post poliomyelitis syndrome, and spinal cord injury. The information for this study was collected from mail-in surveys as part of an ongoing study of people as they age with disability. In their report of the study, published in December 2016 in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, lead author Samuel Battalio and his colleagues found that resilience was positively associated with satisfaction with social roles (at work or within the family, for example) and quality of life, but not with physical functioning. In other words, if we have something in our life that keeps us active and engaged, we are more likely to recover from adversity and figure out ways around a problem. And let’s face it, when you live with a chronic illness like multiple sclerosis (MS), most days present opportunities to find ways around a problem. It reminds me of the Sy Oliver and Trummy Young song, “T’ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It).” As the song states, “That’s what gets results.” And ain’t it the truth! The Importance of Staying Engaged I read this study when it came out last month and put it on the back burner. I...
Source: Life with MS - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: multiple sclerosis emotions inspiration Living with MS ms community research trevis gleason work Source Type: blogs