Read that title again. Yeah, you read it right. I am not talking about the path of least resistance. I am talking about the path to least resilience. As in resilient health and a resilient life. Whether that is mental, physical, or emotional resilience, it all comes from the same place. Inner strength, inner healing, a strong core to who you are. So how does the path of least resistance lead you down that dire path?
Let’s define resilience first. It is the ability to resist and handle stress without it grinding you down. In other words, stress resilience is your ability to navigate challenges without allowing them to continually wear down your physical, mental, and emotional health. Many of us live with high levels of stress, and we feel okay. Just okay is okay for the short term. But over the long haul, it grinds you down. You begin to lose resilience and your ability to handle the next bad event in life begins to get lower and lower. It’s like I tell my migraine patients: chiropractic won’t cure your migraines, but it will increase your resistance until eventually you won’t experience migraines except in the event of an extreme stress load. I’ve also seen this in people who come in for regular adjustments (once or twice a month for wellness) who have trauma. It’s especially noticeable in people who have been in a car accident. Regular long-term wellness patients rarely have serious injuries, as their bodies have been in a higher level of repair and resilience for a long time! Perhaps we should call it resilience care instead of wellness!
Now let’s define the path of least resistance when it comes to your health. Getting up at 5 a.m. to go for a run or attend an aerobics class is definitely not the path of least resistance. Neither is resisting dessert. Or reading a book instead of choosing to doom scroll on your phone. There are a lot of those low-resistance pathways that are typically the product of bad habits. Most people, at one time, had great discipline and great habits. Whether it was high school sports, working hard for good grade, or becoming your best at a different craft, you did what it took to succeed. You may have noticed that the healthier you feel, the better you perform. The ability to start something great is still there. You can tap into the same inner strength and start new pathways. These pathways may require overcoming resistance, but they can help build greater stress resilience over time.
Think of it this way: you are your own coach. A coach wants you to perform better and be better — not just for yourself, but for the team. Your coach is not going to go easy on you; they will do whatever it takes to bring out the best in you. Otherwise, when you face gameday, you will not be ready. You will underperform, you will make mistakes, and you will get injured if your coach does not harden you for those bigger challenges. Sounds like life, doesn’t it? And for many reading this, your 4th quarter is coming. Your golden years, or whatever you may think of them as being. You can start now on the path of most resilience, or you can continue on the path of least resistance. But someday your child or grandchild will want you in their life—health and happy.
Start today. The path is there. Get a good coach, and start building your stress resilience. It’s in there, waiting to be revealed.
