Test Your Resilience
The year 2014 seems to be the year of putting everything to the test. Tests and quizzes only used to be found in the back of Cosmo magazine, but these days the Internet is rife with tests of “what 80s rock song is your anthem?” and “which Real House Wife diva are you most like.”
I admit to being tempted every once in awhile to figure out what animal I was in a past life, but mostly I avoid those tests. Today, however, I stumbled upon a quiz I just HAD to take: The 14 question Resilience Measurement Scale. How resilient am I REALLY?
It turns out, I scored a “moderately high” 86, which the test interprets to mean that I find life meaningful and am rarely depressed. (True.) I wonder what it would have taken to score off the charts. Some of the questions, to be honest, I was surprised to see, because they don’t correlate to resilience in an obvious way. For example, I didn’t score myself particularly high on “I have self-discipline.” I can see what self-discipline has to do with bouncing back in the face of challenge, but it wouldn’t be one of the FIRST 14 measures of resilience I might think of. Interesting.
Another sort of surprising question was “I keep interested in things,” (which I DID score myself highly on.) Having both broad and deep interests in life is something that can help make us more resilient, but again, I wouldn’t necessary think of it as one of the top measures of resilience. Finally, I was surprised by the question about whether or not I am within 5 pounds of my goal weight (shocking news: I’m not!) Does weight have anything to do with resilience? Or is it about the ability to set and reach a goal? I assume that it’s the latter, but I would be interested in knowing more about why the ask that specific question, rather than a general question about goal achievement.
If you are interested in measuring your own resilience, I highly recommend the 14 Question Scale. It’s very quick, and will give you a nice overview of your strengths and opportunities when it comes to besting a challenge. Particularly if you are in a tough moment in your life or work, why not take a few minutes and measure how well you can expect to cope?
-Courtney
