Stress management is looking in the rear-view mirror (react and recover)
You just dread your demeaning boss so you stress eat, binge watch Netflix or go on a shopping spree after work
OR you take a bath, do yoga or see your therapist
Whether you choose healthy or unhealthy behaviors to cope, both will get you back to baseline
Resilience is looking through the windshield at the road ahead (action and growth)
You know you have a difficult boss. You think about him/her on your way to work, cultivating compassion for the struggles they are probably going through, you feel gratitude for other parts of your job you love, and you decide that working with them will teach you how to be a better boss someday
Viola! You take care of the stressor by looking at it differently and changing your brain. You are proactive. You are in control. You practice gratitude and compassion
This practice will make you better than before!
To be clear, healthy stress management tools are extremely important too, as the skill sets for both overlap and enhance each other. I just wanted to point out the difference. We need both!
What do you do for stress management? What do you do to build resilience?
Check out my posts on the 5 Practices to Build Resilience!