How can you cope better with stress? How do you feel when bad things happen? Do you bounce back from \_26\_ or sob indefinitely? Emotional resilience, the ability that some people have to \_27\_ stress, was once thought to be a genetic gift. You were either lucky and had it, or you didn't and struggled. Studies show that teenagers who fail exams have an \_28\_ risk of depression as adults, as athletes who lose can feel long-term guilt and humiliation. But recent psychological research suggests that emotional resilience can be developed. The study found that having higher levels of self-esteem, a more positive way of explaining why things happen, and avoiding perfectionist thinking were strongly linked to bouncing back when things go wrong. How you explain things also matters: if you attribute personal success to \_29\_ rather than your own work and talent, then you are less able to use success to boost your self-esteem. If, however, you can \_30\_ a disappointment by attributing it to external factors, such as not getting a job because they wanted a different skill mix, then you have the equivalent of emotional armor.