We’ll be exploring what resilience is and how we can show it. We’ve heard about it and most of us have shown it at some point in our school careers, but do we really know what it means? Well, the Oxford English Dictionary defines resilience as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties” but what does that really mean?

Resilience is so important, not only would it be essential during our med school applications and exam, but also in our healthcare careers. As doctors, dentists and vets we will be faced with challenges everyday which I’m sure is apparent to you through work experience and wider reading. Especially during these unforeseen circumstances, medics are working tirelessly to ensure our safety and have shown amazing resilience through overcoming any challenge to keep us all safe.

We all have resilience in us, and have demonstrated it at least once in our lives. But how can we build resilience further? Bellow are some of our top tips on doing so:

• Try to have a positive mindset about every situation- failure is just a learning experience! We’re sorry, I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase thousands of times from teachers but its true! In order to succeed, we need to improve on things we’re not great at, and that may start with little things in your day to day life like learning how to do the laundry.
• Use your support network! Know you’re not alone – we all experience failure. The Medic Mentor family is here to support you throughout your journey to becoming a medic. We’re here for you whatever it is, there are so many different routes into university, so there will be definitely be one for you, and that means not getting the grades isn’t the end of the world. Please remember to ask for help if you are concerned.
• Celebrate every success no matter how small. It’s important to recognise your achievements. We all too often focus on the things which didn’t go too well, and we forget about the things we’re really good at, and how far we’ve each come.