Most people believe they are resilient. After all, how can you survive into today’s hectic modern world without a hefty dose of mental resilience?
However, in studies conducted, 87% of Americans believe they have mental strength and resilience. In actuality, roughly half of Americans display mental resilience.
You have heard it—mindset is everything. Resilience is more than just a popular buzzword in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with people getting sick or passing away at an alarming rate. Instead, it is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle.
Being a healthy person means more than being able to bench press your own weight and eating enough salads. It is a holistic, comprehensive view of your mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and interpersonal health.
That is why we have developed a guide to building mental resilience during even the most challenging times in life. Let’s get started on making a mighty mind!
What Are Your Priorities?
When you are developing mental toughness, it’s important to be aware of human limitations. It is impossible to treat everything like a five-alarm fire all the time.
It is also important to note that everyone has a different starting point regarding mental resilience. Some people are just starting to unpack decades of childhood trauma, while others have had well-adjusted lives.
Progress is progress, no matter where you are starting from. But your current position can inform your journey to developing mental resilience.
What are your top priorities? Maybe it’s being able to emotionally regulate yourself in a healthy way or reacting proactively when you get bad news.
These are great goals, but it is hard to get started if you’re dealing with one crisis after another. The world is chaotic at the best of times, and with a raging pandemic and international upheaval, what can you do?
Start by choosing what you give your attention to. If you are trying to serve as the primary caretaker for an elderly parent while raising children and going after a promotion at work, you don’t have much mental space left.
For some people, that means disconnecting from unnecessary drama. Part of mental resilience is trusting that you know what is best for yourself.
This could mean doing some housecleaning. Are you currently involved in toxic relationships that are sapping your mental strength?
What about your digital life? We have all heard it before, but excessive screen time and social media usage can wreak havoc on your nervous system. Getting into Twitter wars or stressing over someone criticizing your Instagram post is extra stress that you don’t need right now.
Cultivate Your Mindset
It is time for some honest self-reflection. How do you usually respond to inconveniencies, crises, and disasters? Everyone reacts poorly sometimes, but what is your typical modus operandi?
If you typically have a woe-is-me, it-is-what-it-is attitude, this is an example of toxic passivity at work. Rather than being a force at work in your own life, you passively react to external factors.
Of course, the whole point of mental resilience is that not everything is in your control. Sometimes, family members fall ill, or you get fired from your job.
But your reaction is always in your control. One of the biggest tenets of religion that many people find comfort in is that everything happens for a reason. This type of theology assigns value to their suffering and places individuals into a vast communal framework.
Even if you aren’t religious, finding purpose in your mindset is crucial. That is where the value of positivity comes in.
What is the best possible outcome in the situation you’ve found yourself in? And what steps can you take to ensure that outcome occurs?
Honor Your Commitments
Many people pride themselves on keeping their word and never breaking promises, no matter how inconvenient it becomes to them. This makes them reliable rockstars that get noticed at work or school.
But what about making promises to yourself? Many of us promise that we will take time for a relaxing walk or that we will read our favorite book or take a nice bath.
How often do those things actually happen? When you make commitments to yourself, whether it is self-care, your goals, or your own wellness, you should treat them just as seriously as commitments to others.
If you wouldn’t blow off a gym date with a friend, don’t blow off one with yourself. This mindset is important for two reasons.
Firstly, mental resilience is predicated on the assumption that you can trust yourself. If you are wondering how to be mentally strong, it starts with trusting your own word.
If you constantly show up for yourself, you start to view yourself as a reliable, resilient person. This mindset shift can be a massive change regarding how you interact with the world around you.
Keeping your commitments is also a way of earmarking time for yourself and improving your mental health. If you are able to take a walk and soak up some sunshine, get some exercise, or take a few moments alone, your physical health and mood will improve.
This has a direct impact when you want to build mental resilience.
Put the Work In
When it comes down to it, building mental resilience just doesn’t happen. Instead, it is a series of actions that culminate in positive benefits over time—with things like therapy, practicing mindfulness, and so forth.
With the increased availability of options like online therapy, and more insurance providers starting to cover it, you can start putting the work in. Sometimes building mental resilience requires clearing out a lot of figurative underbrush first, and therapy is a great place to start.
If you prefer an easier stepping stone, what about meditation apps? You can start with something easy, like a five- or ten-minute guided session.
Developing Mental Resilience
The process of building your own sense of mental resilience is a lengthy one. You could even argue that it is a lifelong pursuit to build a mightier mentality.
The art of resilience isn’t naïve optimism or insisting that everything will work out through blind faith. Instead, resilience empowers you to tackle life’s challenges with the best approach possible.
If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of our inspirational and informational posts here! Read more of our startup, mental health, and healthcare related articles to master mental resilience.
