Resilience

General Advice:

• You are enough. You deserve to be happy. Nothing should undermine your belief in your own dignity and worth.

• If you face challenges during your time at school (especially graduate school), you are not alone. Many people have been through what you're going through, and there are many resources to help you. 

  • One of the most common challenges is imposter syndrome, where you might worry that you are not as good or as smart as your peers, or you might worry that you are a 'fraud' or that you got your position by luck. Objective measures of intelligence and success are not robustly correlated with how smart people judge themselves to be (Dunning-Kruger effect). Thus, objective success does not typically 'cure' someone of imposter syndrome. One approach that is helpful is shifting focus from what (you imagine) other people think of you, to what you want for yourself. Rather than worrying about whether you're "good enough," ask yourself if you enjoy the work and if this is how you want to spend your time. Deemphasizing "innate talent" is also important because objective measures of success are based on the work you actually produce (papers, etc.), not your "innate talent" (whatever that might be).

  • Another collection of obstacles includes harassment, micro-aggressions, bias, and discrimination. Know that being subjected to this behavior is not your fault, is not uncommon, and can have long-ranging negative impact on your job satisfaction. When you encounter it, take time to ask yourself how it is interfering with your ability to work or learn. Be specific. Acknowledge what is within your control and what is not. Your best response should be whatever gets you closer to the state where you are able to do your best work. Often it is helpful to reach out for confidential support. Psychologists, therapists, and the CU Ombuds are all bound by confidentiality and can give you the space to explore your own feelings and reactions to the behavior. If the behavior is serious and consistently prevents you from doing your best work, you should reach out to a faculty member you trust or the chair of the department. (Note that all faculty members are mandatory reporters, so they will be required to report any misconduct to OIEC.) You can report misconduct yourself to CU's Office of Institutional and Equity Compliance. This can be helpful when there is (or might be) a pattern of bad behavior such as discrimination or harassment that goes against CU's professional rights and responsibilities. If the behavior is illegal, you should reach out to the campus and city police as well.

• In all stages of life, some of your most crucial support will come from your peers. Reach out, do not feel ashamed, and support one another. A large body of research suggests that helping others is a good way to feel better yourself. Call out bad behavior when you see it directed towards others. Remember your bystander training.

• Figure out what contributes to your own resilience. Here are some common ones: 

  • Getting enough sleep every night (most people need at least 7 hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep)

  • Daily exercise (get your heart rate up, choose something sustainable and enjoyable) 

  • Sunshine (vitamin D is robustly correlated with a variety of benefits, as is time spent in nature)

  • Nourishing meals (the evidence mostly supports a Mediterranean-style diet, including leafy greens, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fruits, and omega 3s)

  • Time spent with supportive friends and family (schedule regular talks in person, online, or over the phone)

  • Journaling (write what you're grateful for, stream of consciousness, CBT or ACT therapy exercises, etc.)

  • Meditation (reduces stress, boosts happiness, can help to refocus on important things rather than urgent things)

  • Avoid things like smoking, excess alcohol, excess caffeine, sitting for long periods of time, and dehydration (especially at altitude!)

Specific Resources:

• CU Mindfulness through Renée Crown Wellness Institute

• Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) and new graduate-school embedded therapist

• Graduate Philosophy Student Mental Health and Disability Network (APA)

• Interviews with philosophers that highlight work-life balance (APA)

• Here are two free online CBT courses to help reduce chronic pain: Duke/Melbourne PainTrainer and Sydney eCentre Clinic

• Here is a Nature article on Long COVID and its impact on academics: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00819-w

• Here is a website by Shieva Kleinschmidt: This is an incomplete and informal resource containing suggestions for anticipating, mitigating, and recovering from climate-related professional harms, especially within one's own institution. The focus here is on responding to diversity, equity, and inclusion issues at an individual level for oneself, rather than on advocating for others or pursuing larger changes (though of course, those are related and all are important).

Specific Ideas from the Literature:

• NYTimes series on Resilience

• Mindset by Carol Dweck (2007): 

  • When we are in a fixed mindset, we take our abilities as fixed, and we take tasks to reveal our innate skill. This "I have it or I don't" attitude is correlated with lower productivity, because people do not work as hard or as long or as well at those tasks.

  • When we are in a growth mindset, we take our abilities to be changeable and improvable through consistent effort, and we take tasks to give us evidence about what we can work on. This "I will try hard and learn from my mistakes" attitude is correlated with higher productivity, because people work longer, better, and harder on tasks.

  • As a philosopher, you can embrace a growth mindset by asking your peers for constructive feedback on your work and receiving it with an eye toward how to improve. If you find yourself getting defensive, work on that. (And don't forget to return the favor by giving helpful feedback to your peers!)

• Switch by Chip and Dan Heath:

  • When you lack motivation, often it is an environment or situation problem, not a 'you' problem. 

  • Restructure your environment to make difficult tasks easier. 

  • Think of yourself as both an elephant and its rider. The rider needs reasons, the elephant needs motivation. The rider provides the plan, the elephant provides the energy. It's much easier to get an elephant to walk along a downhill path than uphill through jungle.

  • Restructure your environment to make tasks easier rather than relying on your 'willpower'. If you focus better in a library than a coffee shop, go to the library. If you stay off social media when you don't have your phone, leave it in your backpack. Don't fight yourself unnecessarily. 

• Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Steven Hays

  • Don't try to forbid or reject your negative thoughts. Accept them without necessarily endorsing (or believing) them, and allow them to pass by. 

  • Treat negative thoughts as you would tired children. Give them respectful attention without criticism or shame. Do not engage by agreeing or disagreeing, since what they need is to be seen and heard, not to be argued with.

  • This book provides many concrete exercises for a DIY approach for minor anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc. It is not a replacement for therapy (or a psychiatrist).

• Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

  • Robust mental health (and healing from trauma) begins with self-compassion.

  • Brach offers a meditative practice called RAIN to calm and comfort ourselves when we are stressed, anxious, angry, or fearful:

    • Recognize what is going on. (I am feeling very angry.)

    • Allow the experience to be there just as it is.

    • Investigate with kindness. (Beneath this anger is fear of rejection.)

    • Nurture with self-compassion. (I'm sorry you are afraid of rejection. I care about you.)

    • After the RAIN, sit with the newfound feeling of acceptance to make it easier to return to this state later.

  • There are many meditations, webinars, and other resources on her webpage.

• No Bad Parts and Internal Family Systems by Richard Schwartz

  • You have (but are distinct from) many different parts. On this approach, you should talk to these parts as though they are individual people (with ages, concerns, appearances, etc.). These parts are not bad, though they often are very protective of you and do things (self-sabotage, binge eat, etc.) in misguided attempts to keep you safe.

  • When you can 'talk' to these parts individually and ask what they need you to know (and when you can thank them for trying to keep you safe), you will be able to let go of harmful behaviors and live a fuller, more integrated life that incorporates the best parts of all of yourself.