This article is a republication of FEI’s Move to the Front: A Strategy for Becoming a Stronger Self. It appears as part of Policy & Practice Magazine’s “Igniting the Potential: The Health and Human Services Workforce” series. Policy & Practice Magazine is a publication of the American Public Human Services Association.
Move to the Front: A Strategy for Becoming a Stronger Self
Consider this: You wake up late on a Monday morning, and then your car has a flat tire on the way to work. Later, you discover the leftover chicken tikka masala you were going to eat for lunch sits forgotten on the kitchen counter. At three o’clock, when you need to give a big presentation to a prospective client, you receive an email to reschedule—for next month. When you finally get home for the evening (later than normal), your significant other asks the inevitable: “How was your day?”
And you will respond: “It was bad.”
But what if you were told there are no bad days? That there are simply unfortunate events—flat tires, forgotten lunches, cancelled meetings—and that the difference between “good” and “bad” is your personal resilience? Would you believe it?
Events that cause negative emotional responses are going to happen and are often beyond our control. FEI has built a framework based on how our brains influence our reactions, especially in response to the “bad” events in our lives, with the goal of helping employees overcome adverse experiences, prioritize happiness and ultimately guiding them to their best selves.
It sounds idealistic, but it can be done. We just have to move to the front.