Overview

Starting a new job or school will be exciting, but it can sometimes be a little overwhelming, too. There will be new people to meet and new routines to master. You may get training in areas that are unfamiliar to you. You may not always know where to go or how to get there. All of these new things coming at you can be challenging. They signal a change in your routine and in what is comfortable for you. Change can bring up many feelings. You may feel stressed. You may feel sad at leaving behind a routine that is familiar. Things may happen that you do not expect or feel prepared for and that may feel scary.

The good news is that you have many skills and strengths that will help you navigate unfamiliar situations. You’ve already succeeded many times over or you wouldn’t be where you are today!

The ability to move through and recover from challenging times—like new situations, stress, or even grief and day-to-day disruption—is called resilience. Everyone has the capacity for resilience. Building resilience is like building a muscle—it takes practice and can get better over time. It’s never too late to develop those resilience muscles and make them stronger.

In this module, you’ll learn to recognize the capacity you already have for being resilient. You’ll learn specific ways to build resilience and create a “blueprint” to help you plan ways to become more resilient. You’ll determine how to call on your resilience when you need it most.