Resilience and Stamina when Facing Setbacks

By Deborah Johnson

November 8, 2025

capacity, Deborah Johnson, facing change, facing setbacks, podcast, power of after, recovery, resilience, resilience and stamina, stamina, women at halftime

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If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I had more grit,” you’re not alone. Setbacks and seasons of change can leave even the most capable people feeling winded—professionally, emotionally and physically. But resilience and stamina aren’t fixed traits you either have or don’t. They’re trainable capacities—like strength or language skills—that grow with the right inputs: mindset, recovery, habits, and environment. The good news is that you don’t need a total life overhaul to get started. You need a small set of repeatable practices that compound.

Today, we’ll unpack what resilience really is, why stamina matters when change drags on longer than we hoped, and how to build both—without burning out.

11-11-2025

Power of After by Deborah Johnson Resilience and Stamina when Facing Setbacks with Deborah Johnson 11-11-2025

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What "Resilience" Actually Means

In psychology, resilience is the process and outcome of adapting well to difficult or challenging experiences—through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility. It’s not about never getting knocked down or pretending hardship doesn’t sting; it’s about how quickly and skillfully you return to effective action after the hit. Importantly, research emphasizes resilience is ordinary, not extraordinary; people commonly develop it when supported by healthy beliefs, relationships, and routines. American Psychological Association+1

As an example of stamina, John Richard Owens, known as Johnny Owens, was a welsh professional boxer. His seemingly fragile appearance was deceiving as he competed in more than 120 fights. What stands out about his fighting style is the fact that his stamina was regarded as inexhaustible. Also, he was known for his fast, accurate punching. Often, his determination and bone-deep stamina allowed him to recover in multiple rounds after being knocked down.

For all of us who are not boxers, we can take the principle of getting knocked down multiple times to understand how resilience gets depleted with cumulative stress. Biologically, your body stays resilient when it can surge to meet a challenge and then switch off to recover. When stress systems are pushed too often, for too long, or don’t shut down well, they create allostatic load—the “wear and tear” of chronic activation that eventually erodes mood, focus, immunity, and long-term health. Recognizing and reducing allostatic load is central to building true stamina.

**Key idea: Resilience isn’t having “no stress.” Instead, it’s good stress cycles—mobilize → recover → grow.

Stamina: Why Resilience Needs an Energy Plan

If resilience answers “Can I adapt?”, stamina answers “Can I keep adapting tomorrow?” Stamina is the capacity to sustain effort through a drawn-out change—organizational restructuring, a long job search, caregiving, rebuilding after loss. All of those can be extremely emotionally and physically draining. Without stamina, we lurch between heroic sprints and forced collapses. With stamina, we pace ourselves, protect our recovery, and we keep showing up. Two building blocks matter most:

One: Deliberate Recovery (physical and mental): deliberate recovery includes sleep quality, movement that discharges or releases stress-like exercise, and taking short resets during the day. There is much evidence that shows exercise buffers stress reactivity and supports mood regulation; consistent activity improves coping under pressure.

Two: Cognitive Framing (how you mentally relate to stress): cognitive framing is viewing stress responses as energy you can use. This includes our heart rate, our focus, and those annoying “butterflies”—all framed as energy rather than as damage you must avoid. This “stress-is-useful” framing is associated with better performance and well-being, especially when paired with social support. Kelly McGonigal shares this in her TED talk, “How to Make Stress Your Friend” with research that debunks the belief that stress is bad for you. She says, “If you change your mind about stress, you can change your body’s response to stress.”

A Practical Model: The R.E.S.E.T. loop

Let’s apply this with a simple, extremely practical and repeatable loop that protects resilience and builds stamina during prolonged change:

R — Regulate quickly
E — Extract the lesson
S — Set the next micro-goal,
E — Enlist support
T — Train your baseline

You can run this loop after a single bad meeting—or at the end of every day or week in a tough season of life. Let’s unpack each of those applicable principles with the time it takes to do them.

R-Regulate Quickly (2-3 minutes)

When you feel flooded—tight chest, racing thoughts, tunnel vision—your first job isn’t to solve the problem and make it go away. It’s to downshift your stress response so your brain can think again.

Take 2-minutes for exhale-bias breathing: Inhale 3–4 seconds, exhale 6–8 seconds, repeat.

Take 90-seconds to name-your stress: These are some examples: “I’m feeling anxious and disappointed or that’s my stress system trying to protect me.” Labeling reduces the brain getting stuck in overdrive and reopens the prefrontal cortex, which is critical in developing a growth mindset. I write about this in chapter six of my book Power of After.

Incorporate Micro-movement: Take 3–5 minutes for a brisk walk, climbing stairs, or 20 body-weight squats to burn stress chemicals (like adrenaline). Your body releases adrenaline when you’re anxious, angry, or excited. Exercise routinely improves stress coping and emotional regulation. PMC

Direct Application: After a derailed call or meeting, you take three minutes to breathe with inhaling and long exhales, then a five-minute walk before you write any follow-ups. You respond from clarity, not alarm.

E-Extract the Lesson (5 minutes, includes writing)

Ask yourself: What, exactly, did I learn? Keep it neutral and behavioral. Don’t discount writing this down with pencil and paper. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What cue did I miss?

What will I try differently next time?

What’s one controllable variable I can adjust (preparation, timing, tone of voice)?

This turns pain into data and preserves your self-trust with the self-talk: “I can grow from this.”

S-Set the Next Micro-Goal (Under 15 minutes)

Make it small enough that you can’t procrastinate. Momentum beats perfection when your system is stressed. This can be as simple as booking a follow-up call, rewriting a script or hand-writing a note.

This may not take 15 minutes, but allow enough time to think, regroup and take action with setting that mini-goal. This way, you keep moving forward. Remember, it should be actionable and measurable.

RESET Loop-Deborah Johnson-Resilience-Stamina

E-Enlist Support

Be proactive in finding those who can help you rehearse, sanity-check assumptions, or share the load. Whether it’s a peer, coach, or friend, connection buffers stress and improves outcomes. This is affirmed in McGonigal’s messaging in her TED talk. Social support is associated with a useful stress outcome. If you find yourself lacking in this area, be proactive in developing worthwhile friendships.

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T-Train Your Baseline (Daily Practice)

This is where stamina compounds—what you do between challenges that lowers allostatic load of the brain getting stuck in overdrive and raises capacity. Daily habits can include:

Sleep protection: 7–9 hours target; with a consistent wake time and dimming lights or screens during the last hour.
Movement: 3×/week moderate-vigorous activity; even 10–20 daily minutes helps stress regulation. I can personally attest to this.
Mindfulness or breath practice: 8–12 minutes most days is linked with better sleep and mood in multiple trials; mindfulness-based programs help stress and insomnia. Yoga and Pilates include a lot of good breathing repetition.
Tiny recovery habits: 60–120 seconds every 90 minutes to stand, breathe and step outside will do wonders.

Tips on How to Stay Durable: Pacing for Long Hauls

One: Set a Rhythm
Focus on consistency, not completion. As an example, instead of “finish the proposal,” aim for “45 focused minutes a day for 10 days.” Steady effort under stress builds real progress. See chapter 6 in my book Women at Halftime.(Rhythm diagram)

Two: Be Consistent—Schedule Your Recovery
The middle of any process feels hardest. Motivation dips, stress rises. Plan your breaks and recovery time like meetings—you’ll last longer and perform better.

Three: Take Time to Practice De-Stressing
Reframe stress as fuel: before a big call or presentation, tell yourself, “This energy helps me focus.” Use selective intensity—such as, go hard 1–2 days a week, then recover. Like athletes, alternating effort and rest strengthens endurance.

For Example: During a six-month product or life change, you protect your sleep window, schedule three 45-minute deep-work blocks each morning, hold two lighter admin days, and keep one social buffer on Fridays. You don’t just survive the pivot—you stay credible and creative through it with a clearer mindset.

True resilience in hard moments comes from strengthening your body, mind, and relationships—and knowing how to reset when pressure hits. Develop and nurture relationships with people who remind you who you are when life goes sideways; reach out for support before and during challenges, not just after with those in your closest circle. (as emphasized in Women at Halftime)

Pitfalls to Watch For

All-or-nothing thinking: Missing one workout doesn’t mean the habit is broken. Make your next rep tiny and immediate.
Recovery guilt: Rest isn’t a luxury; it’s the biological mechanism that converts effort into capacity.
Silent struggle: Under stress, we isolate. That’s exactly when a five-minute check-in protects resilience.
Thrash sprints: A burst of 80-hour weeks may look heroic, but it spikes allostatic load and steals tomorrow’s clarity. Aim for sustainable cadence. PubMed Pay attention to your body and mindset.

Application: With Resilience You Can Feel

If you remember one thing, make it this: Resilience is a cycle, and stamina is a plan. You mobilize for the challenge, you recover on purpose, you extract a lesson, and you take the next small step—with people in your corner. Do that for two weeks, then two months, and the setbacks won’t get smaller—but you will be stronger, steadier, and more skillful at turning pressure into growth.

Start today. Two minutes of long exhales. A five-minute walk after the next hard call. One text to someone who can help you prepare. You don’t need a new life to build resilience—you just need a new framework with a system, or repeatable loop, that works.

Sources and Resources

American Psychological Association (APA) – What resilience is and how to build it; emphasizes adaptability and ordinary pathways of resilience. American Psychological Association+1
Allostatic Load Framework – Foundational work by Bruce McEwen on stress, adaptation, and the “wear and tear” that accrues without recovery; explains why pacing and deliberate recovery matter for long-term health. PubMed+1
Exercise & Stress Coping – Review showing physical activity promotes positive changes in mental health and stress coping. PMC
Mindfulness & Sleep – Evidence that mindfulness-based interventions improve sleep quality and depressive symptoms in insomnia populations; relevant for recovery planning. ScienceDirect
Stress Mindset & Performance – Kelly McGonigal’s widely cited TED Talk on reframing stress as helpful; useful for practical mindset scripts. TED

Stop Circling: Steps to Escape Endless Roundabouts by Deborah Johnson

Women at Halftime: Principles for Producing Your Successful Second Half by Deborah Johnson

Hero Mountain Summit: Power of After 5-Step Framework: A 5-month entrepreneurial mentorship designed to help mid-life professionals break free from stagnation and rise toward purposeful success.

The Hero Inside album: see it on DJWorks Music page here: https://djworksmusic.com/products/

FREE Downloads: Goal Setting Worksheets

FREE Resources and links: https://GoalsForYourLife.com/DJWorks

YouTube Podcast Playlist: Women at Halftime/Power of After

Resilience and stamina aren’t fixed traits you either have or don’t. They’re trainable capacities that grow with the right inputs: mindset, recovery, habits, and environment.

deborah johnson

Thought Leader, Keynote Speaker, Author

If you are interested in growing and learning, check out our online courses here: Online Learning

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Deborah Johnson

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About the author

Deborah Johnson, M.A. has not only written multiple books and albums, but hundreds of songs, three full-length musicals and is the producer of the popular podcast, Women at Halftime. She was past president of the National Speakers Association, Los Angeles and has written & produced multiple online courses. She enjoys being outside and traveling with her husband and also loves spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Up for multiple GRAMMY Awards and spending over 20 years in the entertainment industry, she's built multiple self-driven businesses and is an expert on how to constantly reinvent yourself in a gig-economy. Deborah speaks and performs for both live and virtual events.