People often talk about resilience and bouncing back or springing forward but what comes before that?
Well, there is a word for it and it is ‘presilience’.
Presilience is what we do to get ready for adversity. It’s planning for potential problems and obstacles.
This is personal due diligence and priming ourselves for what might be coming so we have the responses in the bag to cope and manage. It’s like anticipated hindsight.
Clearly we can’t plan for every eventuality but there are certain situations we go into where we can manage the risk. This helps us to be adaptable rather than shocked to the core looking like a rabbit in headlights.
Presilience doesn’t replace resilience, it’s the intelligent prefix to it and helps us make a riposte with more strength and flexibility.
It’s planning for a resilient response so we are quick to bounce back rather than be left stunned and stationary.
It’s having the fire blanket ready in case the pan catches fire.
Our preparation will involve thinking about things such as routines, activities, eating patterns, habits and lifestyle.
But our preparation also involves thinking what could happen and any potential spanner in the works.
Having a presilient mindset improves the chances of a better bounce so that whatever situation we face we can continue with a spring in our step.
Presilience is extremely useful when going through cancer treatment yet it can be be the most overlooked and unappreciated aspect of cancer self-management.
Treatment is risky. It might work, it might not. There will side-effects and some of these might knock you for six.
You can go into cancer treatment blind and just let it happen. Doctors and nurses will obviously discuss with you the potential side-effects (of which there are many) but you might decide to let it all play out in a “what will be will be” sort of way.
That’s fine and lots of people do exactly that.
But the onus is on us to go that bit further and find out more, if we want. That’s a choice.
But, I believe in being proactive in my disease management and finding out what I can to help myself deal with potential reactions to a treatment.
Knowledge acquisition isn’t going to hurt so doing more to enhance my problem-solving and decision-making skills is only going to help.
If there is anything I can do to prepare myself more then I will. I don’t want to leave too much to chance. I don’t want to leave anything to chance for that matter! Treatment side-effect preparedness is therefore essential.
It’s about knowing what to look out for and being aware of what is normal and what isn’t.
It’s acting quickly when things aren’t right.
I realise that future proofing can only go so far.
I know that there will always be plenty outside of my control but having a presilient approach will support my responses so I don’t get bogged down in toxic thinking or a toxic response.
Presilience can support and improve my own knowledge about my condition, how I feel about it and my ability to cope day to day.
Treatment side-effects can be emotionally very heavy things to deal with so visualising what could happen makes responding more positive.
I suppose for me, it’s like training for an important football match so that I am better able to cope when the actual game takes place.
There will always be surprises, there will always be a shot you didn’t see coming but there’s a lot we can do to avoid own goals.
Treatment brings with it enormous challenges and so do late-effects. We have to be prepared for what’s coming and not be surprised when they do.
Presilience can therefore contribute to a better quality of life as we are more able to help ourselves and support our own health and well-being. It contributes to a greater self-efficacy helping us feel in more control and capable of managing challenging treatment cycles and life beyond.
Presilience can empower and motivate us to manage our own health problems. It can help us to feel more confident in our ability to manage and control our symptoms and feel less anxious about our disease.
A good response doesn’t just happen. There is contingency planning behind it and a change in cognitive approach.
Always take your umbrella with you if it looks like rain.
Always take your umbrella with you if it doesn’t.
Presilience is good self-management and by planning and preparing you are stacking positive outcomes in your favour.