Teaching small steps every day to improve well-being
RESILIENCE
is the ability to handle what life throws at you; it’s the capacity to adapt and thrive in adversity. In clinical practice, it is often noted that some individuals struggle with chronic pain, while others find effective means to cope. Despite suffering from chronic pain, many people continue to work; do not show high levels of depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric problems; and lead satisfying and fulfilling lives, despite their pain. They are resilient. Meanwhile, chronic pain causes others to struggle. They may become depressed, inactive, and perhaps in time overweight. They are likely to find it hard to lead a normal life.
WE CAN LEARN
to be more resilient. Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed by anyone. To learn a new skill or improve a skill we already have it’s helpful to practice it daily, building on our successes in a series of steps that are set at the right level for our abilities on a given day. Intention, awareness, and small positive actions make a difference over time.
THE PROP PROJECT
is a simple self-help tool that can raise people’s pain resiliency using a technique based on a Quantified Self approach:
1. Give people a simple way to rate and score their pain resilience every day.
2. Based on how they’re doing, provide them with tailored nudges in actions they can take that day, designed to boost their resilience.
3. Have people plot their daily scores on a graph, giving them a clear feedback system.
Small improvements are immediately apparent, encouraging the user to keep doing more of the same. Minor setbacks also become obvious, suggesting things to try to avoid. Over 30 days, readers measure their pain resilience and receive practical advice to help build their psychological strength and their ability to come to terms with their chronic pain.
