#261: Unlocking Your Resilience During Times of Adversity with Komal Minhas

If You Want to Unlock Your Resilience You Should:

1. Allow yourself permission to step into your identity after overcoming illness or adversity
2. Form a community that makes you feel seen and heard in your lived experiences
3. Find rituals such as organizing and journaling that can help you feel solid in your wellness foundation
4. Tap into your cycle, heritage, and identity to become clear on the legacy you want to leave behind

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Episode Summary

If there was ever a year that tested our personal resilience, it was 2020. While many of us are trying to search for normality in the wake of this pandemic, many of the stressors of 2020 have spilled into 2021. This is why I have asked resilience coach and educator Komal Minhas to the show to have a much-needed conversation about building resilience during these times of adversity.

Resilience Through Adversity with Komal Minhas

Komal Minhas helps people better understand their own strengths and capacity as they work to transform the systems we live in and teaches them tactics on how to thrive through times like these. After surviving a cancer diagnosis and a neurological illness at age 26, Komal took her ‘rock bottom’ and turned it into the place where the seeds for her company and her vision were planted. Now 30, she has been featured on Oprah’s Super Soul 100 list, has interviewed Michelle Obama, Rupi Kaur, & Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, and more, and is the founder and host of the amazing Lessons Learned Podcast.

Life After Illness

When it comes to dealing with life while dealing with or overcoming an illness, we often want to put that illness into a box and set it aside and ‘get back to normal.’ In Komal’s experience, you need to reconcile with your illness and realize that the reality of your new life is that your illness will always be a part of you.

While you may never become the person that you were before your illness, you can face the trauma that you have endured and imagine a new identity for yourself that is more gentle and inclusive of your new needs. Creating a comprehensive plan that tunes into all of the robust parts of your identity will help you enhance both your overall resilience and your wellbeing.

Your Community Is Your Power

We all know that self-care is important, but creating these daily habits truly is your foundation for wellness. It doesn’t matter if it’s 5 minutes or 5 hours, getting in where you fit in and building a habit of maintaining your resiliency will help you get through difficult times. Organizing your home, giving yourself little projects, and journaling can all help you to clear space for your creativity and energy.

In addition to these daily habits, Komal knows that community is the most important way to build your resilience. Having a community that makes you feel seen and heard, and helps you tap into your identity and the legacy you want to leave behind is the biggest way to enhance your resilience and your wellbeing.

How do you feel you are doing with your resilience? Has it gotten stronger throughout the pandemic, or has it struggled? Share how you are working to build your resilience with me in the comments below!

Quotes

“When I hit that rock bottom, I looked around at the resources available, and there wasn’t much. And so it slowly became my mission to help create resources for folks who are facing adversity, who are going through so much trauma and difficulty in their lives, but who are wildly ambitious. To train them, to support them in better understanding the keys to their resilience.” (10:13)

“For me, a resilient life is to look around at your life and say ‘what is the safety net behind me? What have I built as the foundation? What can catch me when and if I fall?’ Because the fall is sometimes inevitable.” (13:23)

“The way that you can focus on organizing the physical spaces that you have control over can also support you in navigating those difficult environments you might be existing in.” (27:44)

“It is shocking to some folks when you think of these natural rhythms and how much we can learn from them, and how that can enhance how strong we are and how we show up every day.” (32:57)

“The more connected we become, the more willing we become to not only connect to ourselves but each other, and the more powerful, resilient, and whole we become as a collective.” (39:36)

In This Episode

• The role of resilience when overcoming your health battles and chronic illness (11:59)
• Why you need to rely on your community to increase your ability to live a resilient life (14:42)
• Tips for navigating the pandemic and creating a sense of organization and calm within your home (18:36)
• Rituals to ground you and help put a solid wellness foundation into place (28:14)
• How embracing your menstrual cycle can improve your resilience, creativity, and tolerance (31:10)

Resources Mentioned

Get the EO Menopause Solution Book Here

Lessons Learned Podcast

Komal Minhas Website

Follow Komal on Instagram

Dream, Girl Documentary Film

Grab Dr. Mariza’s Top 11 Self-Care Rituals!