Resilience Isn’t Just a Mindset
/
It’s important to be mindful of limiting stress and protecting our mental health, but as with almost all recommendations having to do with diet and exercise, everything in moderation. The truth is challenges and new opportunities are equally as healthy for our brains as meditation and relaxation. It all comes down to how you view the challenges and setbacks that we all inevitably face as a part of our life.
The truth is being pushed is a tool we can leverage to our benefit. They can be opportunities for learning and growth, and they can help you improve your coping mechanism, all things we call resilience.
We often think of resilience as a mental quality, something tied to grit, optimism, or just “toughing it out.” But emerging neuroscience tells a different, far more empowering story:
Resilience isn’t just psychological. It’s biological.
And that means it’s trainable.
Your brain has a Comeback Circuit
Recent studies have uncovered a fascinating mechanism in the brain, a comeback circuit, that governs how effectively we recover from adversity.
This circuit involves two key regions:
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC): Handles emotional regulation, decision, making under stress, and assigning value to experiences.
Salience network: A system of brain structures that filters what’s important in any given moment (especially under pressure), helping you pivot focus and prioritize fast.
When you experience stress or a setback, this neural network activates to help you recover, and each time you bounce back, these pathways grow stronger through neuroplasticity, your brain’s ability to rewire and adapt. Think of it like building mental muscle memory. The more often you get back up, the faster and more efficient your brain becomes at navigating future stress. This is neuroplasticity in action.
Every time you move through a difficult experience; a breakup, job loss, health scare, any failure, your brain literally adapts. Neural connections in the vmPFC and salience network are strengthened, and your brain “learns” how to:
Reframe situations more quickly
Regulate intense emotions
Reengage executive function under stress
Shift focus from panic to problem-solving
This rewiring makes your comeback quicker, sharper, and more efficient each time, not because you became tougher, but because your brain evolved.
Some of the research:
Columbia University (2022): Found that people with higher vmPFC activity showed faster emotional recovery and better decision-making after stress exposure.
Stanford Neurosciences Institute (2019): Demonstrated that resilient individuals had stronger connectivity between the salience network and executive regions, suggesting better focus and adaptability.
Nature Neuroscience (2015): Confirmed that adaptive coping behaviors physically change brain circuits, especially under repeated moderate stress, reinforcing plasticity.
Training your Comeback Circuit/Biological Resilience
1. Practice Mindful Stress Exposure (Not Avoidance)
Mild to moderate stress, challenging workouts, cold exposure, or taking on hard tasks, teaches your brain to respond, not react.
Examples to try cold showers, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), VO2 max training or public speaking challenges
How it works: Stress triggers the salience network and increases emotional regulation capacity
2. Reframe the Narrative
Cognitive reappraisal (changing how you interpret a stressor) increases vmPFC activation and reduces emotional reactivity. Encourages adaptive meaning-making, builds emotional flexibility
Things to try:
Journaling about setbacks with a “lesson learned” lens What was a stressor I experienced today?”
A daily reframe ask yourself: How did I initially react? What’s a more empowering or useful way to look at it?”
Situational reframe: Failed Project or Rejection Instead of saying. I’m not good enough. This proves I shouldn’t try again. Try this instead: “This is feedback, not failure. Now I know what to improve, and that gets me closer to success
3. Sleep Like It’s Therapy
Sleep is when your brain does most of its rewiring. Chronic sleep loss disrupts vmPFC functioning and emotional control.
Aim for 7–9 hours, prioritize deep sleep (0–3 a.m.) Set a strict bed and waking time. This is not being selfish or self-centered. This enables you to rest, recharge and be at the top of your game. It is a gift to you and your family and friends.
4. Stay Socially Connected
Loneliness is a killer and research shows it is as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Everyone has different social needs, asses your comfort and adjust accordingly. Positive social support activates the same neural reward pathways tied to emotional regulation.
Text a friend, join a group, share your goals, social interaction strengthens prefrontal cortex and reward circuitry during stress.
5. Reflect on Past Wins
Remind your brain it can bounce back, it already has. Revisiting your own comeback stories builds confidence and “resilience recall.”
Make a list of past challenges you overcame. This reinforces neural pathways associated with grit and self-efficacy.
Resilience Is Not About Being Unbreakable. It is about your brain’s ability to adapt and rewire, it is time to make it work for you not against you.
If you’ve ever said, I’ll never get through this, but then… you did, congratulations you’ve already experienced the power of your amazing brain's rewiring network.
Each challenge is a chance to strengthen your mental core.
Every recovery is a biological win.
So next time life knocks you down, remember:
Your brain isn’t breaking, it is building.
And you're becoming more resilient with every bounce back.
Tracy Farrell is an expert in gut health, thyroid, and endocrine issues. She has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare starting on the administrative side and then as a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and Integrative Health Coach for the last five years at Natural Endocrine Solutions. She has certifications in Small Intestine Bacterial and Fungal Overgrowth (SIBO & SIFO) and has coordinated wellness programs for clients with autoimmune disorders and thyroid issues such as Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease. Most recently she received a Bone Density Certification from Functional Diagnostic Nutrition.
