Life just loves to throw us a curveball at the most unexpected moments. Knowing how to handle this is vital if you want to maintain your mental toughness. So just how do you handle things when the going starts to get really rough?
If you suddenly lose your job, your spouse gets sick or a good friend dies, people expect you to toughen up and keep going. This isn't as always easy as it sounds.
It will be much easier to handle if you have a good amount of mental toughness built in. How much determination and passion do you currently have? If you don't have much then give yourself a goal that you passionately want. This gives you something to work towards and to look forward to.
Areas in your life that you can work on to improve your mental toughness include having a more positive outlook on life.
This is why it is important to have a goal to strive for.
A goal could be racing in an OCR event or triathlon, or it could be to run in a marathon. Set your goal and then do everything in your power to reach it. Of course, you don't want your goal to consume your life, but it should cause your levels of passion to rise.
For example, if you are training for a marathon you don't want to miss any training sessions. If a family member gets sick and requires your help just when you are ready to train. Go and help them but ensure that you make the time to fit in your training session. Don't be satisfied with letting the session slip by. It’s all about balance.
When you possess mental toughness, you demonstrate this in several ways.
You always seem to be energetic and ready for anything. You don't let changes get you down, you just roll with the flow, so to speak. Plus, you have a positive outlook on life and it is hard for you to suddenly get depressed.
While this may sound fantastic, it is not out of reach for you. Yes, it does take time to reach this point. But, if you are prepared to work hard and to stay focused on your goals and passions you can achieve this trait.
Life is always going to get in the way to some extent. It is not the event that is important but how you handle it.
Easy Ways to Improve Mental Toughness
Being mentally tough is not that difficult to achieve. Your mind loves to be put to use and the more you stimulate your mind and thoughts the more your attitude changes. All of these changes combined can really help improve your mental toughness.
- It is important to stimulate your mind on a regular basis, but you definitely don't want to over tax it. Always be open to taking on a new challenge, but don't take on too many at once.
- Meditation is another fantastic way to improve your mind and body. It can give you a great boost of mental energy. As you meditate it is important to focus on what you are doing. Leave any work or personal issues out of your thoughts. Yoga is a great way to get in meditation along with some physical exercise.
- Are you stuck in the same old routine? When was the last time you tried something new? Challenging your brain by doing something new is a great stimulation tool. This also helps increase your confidence levels as well. You may want to try a new sport, pick up a new book or attempt a crossword puzzle. Get out of your rut by trying new things once in a while.
- Are you the type of person who always offers to help when asked? You just can't seem to say no? This is not great for your mental health at all, instead start learning how to say the word "no". It can relieve you of a ton of stress.
- If you really want to increase your mental toughness then allow yourself to work on those things that you are passionate about. Stop putting them off or waiting for the perfect time to do them. Be flexible and make changes to your schedule so you can follow your passions.
- Your emotions can play havoc with you and decrease your mental toughness. Learn to stay in control, especially if your emotions often embarrass you.
- One of the worst things anyone can do is to keep living in the past. This only causes you to think negatively, and it can lead to severe depression. Start to learn to let the past go and live in the present. Instead of wishing things were different grab your mental toughness and make things different!
As you can see many of the above tips are helping you move from feeling like a negative person into a positive thinking one. By becoming more positive your attitude changes and this in turn increases your mental toughness.
