Before a physical workout, a warmup is helpful to get the muscles and joints prepared for activity and reduce the likelihood of injury. There are also warmups you can do before engaging your change muscles.
When you are dealing with adversity, your brain and body play an important role in your reactions. Perceived threats can very quickly lead you to go into what is often called “fight or flight” mode, where your body tenses up and your brain is highly alert to dangers and threats. (If you’d like to read more about what is happening in the brain and body, here’s some more information.)
While this response can be useful in some situations where you really do need to fight or run, it can get in the way of clear thinking and action when dealing with challenges, making it harder for you to use your change muscles effectively. There are a number of simple things you can do to tell your brain and body that things are OK–you can think of these as warmup activities. Once you’ve warmed up, everything else will work more smoothly.
Here are several good options for resilience warmups.