Habit 1: Develop Mental Resilience

We all possess some degree of mental strength. But there is always room for improvement. Developing mental strength is about improving your ability to regulate your emotions, manage your thoughts and behave in a positive manner, despite your circumstances. Just as there are those among us who are predisposed to develop physical strength more easily than others, mental strength seems to come more naturally to some people as well. There are several factors at play to determine the ease with which you develop mental strength: Genetics Genes play a role in whether or not you may be more prone to mental health issues, such as mood disorders. Personality Some writers have personality traits that help them think more realistically and behave more positively by nature. Experiences Your life experiences influence how you think about yourself, other people, and the world in general. Despite these factors that are mostly beyond your control, you can increase your mental strength by devoting time and energy on self-improvement. The Basics of Mental Strength To understand mental strength, you have to become aware how intertwined your thoughts, behaviours, and feelings are, often working together to create a dangerous downward spiral. Therefore, developing mental strength requires a three-pronged approach. We have to manage our thoughts, behaviours, and emotions. Here are some more specific tips on how to strengthen and manage your thoughts, behaviours and emotions. 1. To strengthen your thoughts, you must identify irrational thoughts and replace them with more realistic ones. 2. To strengthen your behaviors, you must strive to behave in a positive manner, despite circumstances around you. 3. To strengthen your emotions, you must strive to control your feelings and emotions so they don’t control you. Psychologists believe that we should always think positively. Unfortunately, optimism alone isn’t enough to help you reach your full potential. What you have to do in addition is to choose behaviour that is based on balanced emotions and rational thinking. Balancing Emotions and Rational Thinking We can make our best decisions in life when we balance our emotions with rational thinking. Stop and think for a minute about how you behave when you’re really angry. It’s likely that you’ve said and done some things that you regretted later. However, making choices based on rational thinking alone also doesn’t make for good decisions. We are human beings and not robots after all. Our hearts and heads need to work together to control our bodies. We all have some difficulty to consistently control our thoughts, emotions and behavior. However, the more often we control them, the more mentally resilient we will become. The Benefits of Mental Strength It’s easy to feel emotionally strong when life is going well. However, we all go through periods of time when our life is going anything but well. There is sickness, death, and injustices that we all face every day regardless of the kind of steps we take to avoid them. When you are mentally strong, you are much more able to deal with life’s challenges. And this will help you to become a better writer. The benefits of increasing mental strength are as follows: 1. You will experience increased resilience to stress. Mental strength is helpful in everyday life, not just in the midst of a crisis. You become better equipped to handle problems more efficiently and effectively, and it can reduce your overall stress levels. 2. You will experience improved life satisfaction. As your mental strength increases, your confidence will also increase. You behave according to your values, which will give you peace of mind and you’ll recognize what’s really important in your life. 3. You will experience enhanced performance. Whether your goals are to be a better writer or to increase your productivity, increasing your mental strength will help you reach your full potential. To improve your mental strength, you have to actually try to improve every day by developing new ways of dealing with difficulties and by using some measures to avoid emotional outbursts as much as possible. However, please remember to be patient in this process. It can take a long time to develop increased mental resilience. The more patient you are with yourself, the better you will feel, and the more you will achieve. So, slow and consistent will win the race for you. Until Next Time! Irene S. Roth