A THRIVE Podcast

Welcome to our fifth episode on Resilience, as part of UoL's Thrive Podcast.

Missed a previous episode? No worries, find the playlist here.

Listen below, or scroll down for the episode transcript!

Transcript

Hello! Welcome to part five of our seven part series on Resilience, this episode is on the Motivation to Push Forward. In the last episode we went over the power of thoughts and how not to ignore negative thoughts but instead observe them and then create more helpful thoughts.

I’m Gemma, I’m part of the Student Health and Wellbeing team at the University of London and this is a THRIVE podcast. If you’re in need of a transcript please go to campus life dot London dot ac dot uk.

The content of this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. This is not medical advice and it is not a substitute for treatment or diagnosis. Please contact your general practitioner for professional medical advice.

There’s more to life than dealing with stress, than coping with anxiety.  There’s motivation too – there’s what we’re living for. We get to choose the direction we’re going in. You’re a captain, and the weather’s bad, you may feel so overwhelmed that you forget which direction you’re going in, and you may even question why you’re out sailing in the first place.

Conversely, you’re a captain and you’re determined to get through the storm because you understand not only where you want to go, but why you want to get there. You chose the direction, it’s important to you, so you continue on your journey.

Part of understanding what motivates you comes back to your values. Even when times get tough, your values remind you of what you care about, and in turn, motivate you.

But, what are your values? These are things that feel most important to you in life. Examples include: justice, humour, perseverance, creativity and love.

Values are not the same as goals. They’re not achievable like a goal is. But your values can inform your goals. So, if you value creativity, your goal may be to paint a mural. Your values represent your highest priorities, reflecting your beliefs and motivating you even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Understanding your values is one thing but practicing them is another. When we act in line with our values in day-to-day life, this is called practicing valued living.

For example, if we value justice, we may stand up for a peer that’s being bullied, go to protests for causes you care about, and try to be a fair leader in group projects, where everyone’s voice is heard.

Another example is valuing humour. To practice valued living, you might tell jokes and try to make people smile, go to stand-up comedy after work, and try to find a reason to laugh even when faced with hard times.

It’s easy to live in line with your values when your life is in order and going how you want it to. The real test is when difficult things happen. We can become fixated on the problem, on solving it, on its negative impacts, and then we forget to live in line with our values.

However, staying connected to these values, especially when push comes to shove, will make us more resilient. It can help us relax, worry less, and feel better.

It’s not a failure though, to lose track of your values when you’re going through a hard time. It’s normal and it happens to everyone. Just because you hurt your knee when training for a marathon and need to rest, it doesn’t mean that you no longer value perseverance and are a failure. Far from it.

You’re a captain that needs to change direction, rethink the course. Your values remain the same, you’re just adjusting the situation. Just because a stressful event prevents you from living your values, it does not lessen your values or say anything about them at all. Plans change all the time. So, you’ve injured your knee? You can persevere through committing to rest and rehabilitation. You’ll be back on your feet soon.

Remember, you can be the kind of captain that knows what their values are, is able to reconnect with them, and adjust when we meet bad weather. Your values motivate you; you’ll get where you want to go if you keep them in mind.

Here’s your Call to Action: Grab your logbook and assess what your values are – what are your top five values? Write them down. And what do they mean to you, specifically? And why are they your values? When we understand why we hold these values and what this could look like in our daily lives, it’s much easier to practice valued living.

Also, write down some examples for each value for how you could practice valued living in the next few days. What does it look like to be generous, or loving, or considerate? Today, what’s an action you could take to feel secure, to be kind, or to persevere? And once you take action, note down how this makes you feel.

On the next episode, we’ll go over Effective Coping. As usual thank you for listening, check out our Campus Life site, and follow us on Instagram at wellatuol. Keep thriving.