A THRIVE Podcast

We've just launched a podcast! UoL's THRIVE Podcast will be a resource for self care and self improvement guides and topical chats. We're debuting with our 7-part series on Resilience. Want to more easily overcome your challenges and life's stresses? Then this series is for you!

Listen below, or scroll down for the episode transcript!

Transcript

Hello! And welcome to the THRIVE podcast. My name is Gemma and I’m part of the Student Health and Wellbeing team at the University of London. And this is the very first episode of our seven part series on Resilience.

Each episode in this series will be less than ten minutes long, and will take you through science back ways to become a more resilient person. To be resilient means to be adaptable and flexible, especially in the face of stress and challenges. This doesn’t mean that every obstacle is easy or that you won’t need breaks or support. But just that as you face difficulties or setbacks, that you’ll be able to adjust your expectations and change course more easily as you become more resilient.

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.

In this episode we’ll be talking about the Sailboat metaphor. Feel free to listen to this as you’re on the go, but we also welcome note taking as we’ll end each episode, after the first one, with one or two calls to action. If you need a transcript this will be available on the university’s campus life site, which is campus life dot London dot ac dot uk.

Okay, let’s begin. The Sailboat Metaphor will come up again in future episodes and will function as a framework through which to understand yourself, stress and the way you experience life.

This metaphor has 8 elements.

The first is water.

The water represents all the things we engage with throughout our day. The water is what our boat moves through as we go about our lives, this includes work, friends, family, hobbies and chores.

Second, we have the compass.

We use a compass to navigate where we are going. In this metaphor, we understand that the compass represents our positive and negative feelings – as we move through the water, we can be motivated by our positive and negative feelings, as these give us feedback to the activities we engage in. Positive feelings might be things like joy and love, whereas we might describe fear or upset as negative.

Next up, our third element is the steering wheel. This represents our values. Our values determine where we are going and how we want to live. One of your values might be family – so one of your main motivators may be to ensure that your family is happy and healthy. Another value might be security, so you may be driven by the desire to be financially, physically and emotionally safe.

The fourth element is a leak. L E A K. The leak in our sailboat represents our weaknesses in terms of our journey towards our goals. What’s getting in our way? What are we missing? And what’s causing the leak?

On the other hand, our fifth element is our sail. S A I L. This represents our strengths. What have we found that is helpful in our journey to our goal? What’s keeping our boat afloat and moving forward?

The sixth element is the weather, which are life’s negative and positive events. The weather is not within our control. Sometimes the sun is shining and the sea is calm. Other times, it’s stormy and chaotic.

Then, we have our seventh element: other sail boats. These are people in our lives, like our family, friends and peers. We can be supported by these other boats and encouraged on our journey. And sometimes, these boats can push us in the opposite direction to where we want to go.

Finally, we have our eighth element: The destination. Our values give us direction, but where do we want to go? Our destination is determined by the goals we set, which motivates us even more.

We’ve got all these eight elements but these aren’t you. Rather you are the Captain of the sailboat. You interact with the elements. You read the compass, you feel the weather, you are pushed by your values.

In the next episode, I’ll take you through the four ways that you will interact with the eight elements.

Okay, thank you for joining us for the first episode on Resilience. Thanks for listening, check out our Campus Life site, follow us on Instagram at wellatuol. Keep thriving.