5 Tips for Improving your Mental Strength
The state of our mental strength can affect just about everything in our lives – our confidence, focus, audacity and decision-making. When we’re drained or suffering from a great amount of stress, feeling overwhelmed can simply magnify the most minuscule of issues. We’ve all had those days when we’re down on ourselves, something we’ve worked on epically fails, our hearts have been broken…the list goes on. It’s how we manage the experiences that matters most. By building up our mental toughness, we can tackle great obstacles, aim for success, and bounce back in times of turmoil.
Thanks to my career and some of the obstacle I’ve had to overcome, I’ve been able to work on my resilience and hone my focus to be a better business woman, creator, friend, and supporter. With a little work and these 5 tips, I’ve found that you can improve your mental strength and take some of life’s highs and lows in stride.
Be Positive - I think the number one step is to be REALLY positive. It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity many of us encounter regularly–especially online–but by looking at the cup half full, or even three-fourths full regularly, you’ll train your mind to truly value great moments and abandon the desire to be your harshest critic. Criticizing yourselves or anyone else can be toxic, and part of healthy mental strength is pushing judgement to the side to make sound decisions and build confidence in yourself.
Focus Your Energy - Some of the biggest frustrations we have in life involve things that are out of our control. It’s important to not let these experiences consume us. Instead, focus on what you can control – your attitude and behaviors. Give your all to specific tasks in school or your career, or open a dialogue in relationships that don’t feel nourished. You can also take a break. When control has escaped you and you have a few minutes to reflect and refocus, meditation can work wonders.
Steady Your Emotions - Whether you’re an overly emotional person or not, we’ve all found ourselves in moments where we overthink things and our emotions take over. That’s when we start obsessing and waste brain power on issues that shouldn’t be controlling our lives. The more emotional highs and lows we have, the more we’ll overreact to varying situations. This can be detrimental to relationships, professional pursuits and our overall health. So when you feel an emotional rush taking over, try to step back from the situation and put it into perspective. I like to think about what I would tell a friend to do in the situation and heed my own advice. This is also when some deep breaths and a little meditation can come in handy.
Challenge Yourself - Your brain is a muscle just like the others in your body and it needs to be worked out for it to be its best. By pushing boundaries and getting a little out of your comfort zone you’ll learn how to handle different situations better–opening you up for more confident decision making in the future. Challenging yourself forces you to set goals and pave a clear path to work towards, which will in turn exercise tip 2 and lead to better focus.
Write More Often - This one may seem silly, but again it gets back to our brains being a muscle that needs exercising. Writing often helps you flush out ideas, release emotions on paper instead of out into the world, and when you expose your writings to others it can help you be a better leader.
What steps do you take to improve your mental strength? How do you handle emotional experiences?
<3 Mish
