Rising Through Resilience: Clisver Alvarez of Blue Greis Lifestyle On The Five Things You Can Do To Become More Resilient During Turbulent Times
An Interview With Savio P. Clemente
Resilience is not something you muster it has to be learned with time and it takes having lots of patience and mental strength as well as stability. It’s knowing you’re going to have to always have hard falls the important part is always getting back up no matter how hard you have fallen. Think when the fighter gets knocked down just seconds before the countdown is over they get back up and keep fighting. To be resilient means to never quit even if life keeps asking you to. My life is a tale of circumstantial falls but what I can share is that I never pay attention to how hard I fell but instead how far I will climb.
Resilience has been described as the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events. Times are not easy now. How do we develop greater resilience to withstand the challenges that keep being thrown at us? In this interview series, we are talking to mental health experts, authors, resilience experts, coaches, and business leaders who can talk about how we can develop greater resilience to improve our lives.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Clisver Alvarez.
Clisver Alvarez, the mental health coach for Blue Greis Lifestyle also known for her freelance writing and features for some of America’s most iconic magazines. She’s been featured in a print issue of Good House Keeping Magazine, has a spot on WebMD for her Inspiring story of how she dealt with her bipolar disorder and her work continues to grow and inspire many.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?
Hi, I’m Clisver the mental health coach and writer for Blue Greis Lifestyle. I’ve been working with amazing people for the past few years. Here’s my “why.” Going through my mental health battles made me a believer in coaching. So I set out on my journey to be that person for others.
It may feel like the end of the world when you’re struggling in life. Whether it be financially, emotionally, or with your health. Being diagnosed at the age of only 16 with bipolar disorder sure was hard for me, growing up with this condition was even tougher. When Bipolar disorder was brought upon me I was 16, back then it was a tragedy. It was not only the bullying I hated. It’s accepting that I was not like my friends, that the term normal did not fit in my life. I was different. When I was not bouncing off the walls I was crying in a corner, yet that was not even the worst part, the psychosis came on even harder on me. Imagine not knowing what’s going on around you, then add to that seeing things and hearing voices and sounds that don’t exist. Scary right? From the beginning, I’ve been told “you can’t” many times but that has not stopped me yet.
Today I have accepted not only myself as a person but also my diagnosis. I understand that having this illness makes me who I am and it’s one of the reasons why I am so creative and loving, but many can’t accept it and who they are because of society, and the mental health stigma.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
A few years ago after struggling in every possible way, I decided to choose a better lifestyle for my family and me. It took a leap of faith, and here I am years later knowing it was the best choice that I’ve ever made. My financial situation, My health was not the best I had just lost my job, and my family’s financial situation was plummeting. Until I decided something had to be done. Then it hit me! I remembered my husband had been telling me for about a year to move out of state and I was always hesitant until one day. We decided it was enough! we needed a better life for our family. The next day we decided to look into it and did our research. I knew I had some money coming in from my taxes and I also knew this would be our only chance. It was either now or never! After making this decision and moving 18 hours away from home and from everything we knew, I knew that I could now do whatever I dedicated my mind to and so Blue Greis Lifestyle was born, I started the journey to help others find wholeness and fulfillment. Remember change has to start with you. You have to want it enough, you have to need it!
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
The two of many things that make Blue Greis Lifestyle Stand out is that we are a Hispanic Women-owned business so yes we offer services in Spanish, and we’ve been in the shoes of those we serve because we have 11+ years of hands-on and lived experience.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I’m grateful for my children because they were my wake-up call. I have accepted my diagnosis and treatment thanks to them I would not be here without them.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the trait of resilience. How would you define resilience? What do you believe are the characteristics or traits of resilient people?
Resilience is the kryptonite that seems to be making you weak but in time you learn that it’s only there to make you stronger. Never see weakness as a defect because imperfections don’t damage you they make you unique. Resilient people are usually very strong, humble, and very courageous.
Courage is often likened to resilience. In your opinion how is courage both similar and different to resilience?
Courage is similar to resiliency because there is an aspect of bravery involved “I don’t care the pain I’m facing I will persevere and push through no matter what”
Yet they can differ because courage is when you face your fears, but resilience is getting up after you’ve fallen from setbacks.
When you think of resilience, which person comes to mind? Can you explain why you chose that person?
The epitome and definition of resiliency in a person for me was my father He passed away in 2015 from renal failure and you’d never know anything was wrong with him. Love you dad.
Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us?
When I moved 18 hours away from home every single human being I knew told me I should not, Yet I did it anyway, and following my heart was the best decision I could have chosen.
Did you have a time in your life where you had one of your greatest setbacks, but you bounced back from it stronger than ever? Can you share that story with us?
During my second pregnancy, I had to be off my medication due to the health of my pregnancy, This was a very stressful time for me I had an episode where I had to take myself to the hospital, and the downfall of it all was that my son who was only 5 at the time had to come with me because there was no one I could leave him with. When I got to the hospital they noticed I was mentally unstable and they decided that my son had to be taken into DCS custody. This was one of the hardest things for me It made me feel as if I was choosing one child over the other. Thankfully My son was returned to me two days later but it was a tough lesson to learn. From this, I learn to always have a plan in place for worst-case scenarios.
How have you cultivated resilience throughout your life? Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share a story?
Resilience is not something you muster it has to be learned with time and it takes having lots of patience and mental strength as well as stability. It’s knowing you’re going to have to always have hard falls the important part is always getting back up no matter how hard you have fallen. Think when the fighter gets knocked down just seconds before the countdown is over they get back up and keep fighting. To be resilient means to never quit even if life keeps asking you to. My life is a tale of circumstantial falls but what I can share is that I never pay attention to how hard I fell but instead how far I will climb.
Resilience is like a muscle that can be strengthened. In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone can take to become more resilient? Please share a story or an example for each.
- Take things as they come. “One thing at a time”
- Don’t take things for granted not even setbacks those are also meant to be lessons.
- Don’t get too ahead of yourself “cross that bridge when you get to it”
- Remember life is a journey so there always be ups and downs, highs and lows, accepting this is key.
- Every day is a fresh start we are granted.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Many of us have forgotten how to be a helping hand to others because we don’t receive any help from anyone. I believe that the simple act of doing something for someone, of lending a helping hand, should be done out of the kindness of your heart and can have such an impact on someone’s life. I started a campaign to help others overcome struggles. I believe that when you think positive you become positive and if you learn or do something positive you must pass that on to someone else and so on. I hope that by sharing my life experiences and my positive outlook on life I can help others change their perspective towards mental health stigma. I believe positivity is also very contagious if you are around positive people you will attract positivity I will share my life experiences as well as my views on life and how I deal with my bipolar disorder. I do this to empower people and show them that there is light at the end of the tunnel because I want everyone to have a chance of achieving their best potential.
We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them :-)
Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Demi Lovato, Trent Shelton
How can our readers further follow your work online?
bluegreislifestyle.com
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
