Three Strategies You Can Implement Today To Become Resilient
Being mentally strong is needed more than ever in our fast-changing world, with a constant barrage of new information coming to us daily.
You'll hear a lot of "feel good" motivation stuff, but little in the way of first principles in how to become mentally stronger.
To fix that, here are three first principles of mental resilience you can start adopting today.
1. Accept the things you can't control and take extreme ownership of what you can
Since it's only your thoughts and actions you can control, it is your responsibility to control what you let into your mind and what you do with that information.
Simply put, what you think is your responsibility.
If you let the news make you afraid and affect your mental state, stop watching the nest.
If your peer group is negative and gossips, change your peer group or at least change the subject.
If you obsessed over every little what if, then you must kill your inner voices and focus on something that's productive.
It is all your responsibility.
Negative thought patterns only make you more fragile and more likely to realize the very thing you are worried about. (The Universe is tricky like that, and the human mind is no exception).
2. Take care of your body
There is no way to overcome your mental state if your physical state is in disrepair. When your body is fit, strong, and getting what it needs, your hormones and brain chemistry are working in your favor.
On the flip side, when you abuse your body, you hurt your mind. It's a symbiotic relationship, which is why you’ve already heard of the mind-body connection.... because it's real.
3. Avoid fear-mongering, gossip-driven negative people
If you want to be mentally strong, you cannot spend your time around mentally weak people.
You could try becoming the leader of that group so you could steer them in a different direction, but the odds are against it because if you were able to do that, you probably already would have.
The only other option is to cut back the time you spend with people or at least cut back and change the conversations you allow to happen between others and yourself.
This is not that hard to do, but you may not think so because you haven't done it.
Next time they start up with their negative nonsense, change the subject. Don't engage. Look distracted. Make it clear either through your body language or by verbally asking to talk about something else.
Be honest with people and tell them you don't want to talk about negative things, and you don't want to gossip. 90% of the time, people will get it and work hard to appease your request. Some will change if you coach them along for a while, and some will actively try to sabotage your request. In the latter case, you know what you need to do.
These are three ideas for being mentally strong.
1. Accept what is in your control and what isn't, then take ownership of what is.
2. Take care of your body and mind by focusing on your body first
3. Stop negativity entering your mind - control the content you consume and the people around you.