Life is a balancing act. There are good days, and there are bad days. Life can be really easy some days but eventually, we will be presented with challenges. How we respond to these challenges shows how strong our mentality is.
Being mentally strong may not be easy, especially when we feel stuck. But with each difficulty we overcome we become mentally stronger.
Here are 14 signs that you are mentally strong
- Balancing emotions with logic – when life throws a difficulty, that we have to overcome, we tend to drown in emotions like fear and despair. Adopting logic, however, can help us to find ways to deal with the situation and not to make rush decisions. The ability to have a clear view is important. But if we feel overwhelming fear, anger, and despair, our thinking becomes clouded. That means, that we cannot see clearly the way out. Mentally strong people feel balanced within.
- Acknowledging our weaknesses – we all have strengths and weaknesses. It is easy with our strengths but we tend to hide our weaknesses and to feel ashamed of them. If we want to be emotionally strong we need to acknowledge and accept our weaknesses. Not accepting our weaknesses means that we do not accept ourselves as human beings. There is nothing wrong in having weaknesses but what is wrong is not accepting them or even not being able to ask for help.
- Being self-directed – going with the flow, can be detrimental if we do it all the time. The flow can take us anywhere. However, if we have direction in life it simply means that we create our life. Having a direction in life can help us to focus on achieving our goals. Having a direction helps us to feel mentally stronger.
- Understanding commitment – commitment is being true to our word. Not only towards others but mainly to ourselves. Our commitment to others is important but what about our commitment to our personal growth, keeping the promises that we make to ourselves? These are rarely kept because there is no one to hold us accountable but ourselves.
- Balancing self-improvement with self-acceptance – Self-improvement is great. We need to improve our knowledge and skills to be able to thrive in nowadays society. However, if we constantly strive for perfection, that is not healthy at all. Recognizing that we will never be perfect is crucial. Understanding that it is impossible to be great at everything is a hard pill to swallow sometimes. Accepting our flaws and working on improving one or some of them is what we should strive for.
- Understanding that life is full of highs and lows – Life is what it is. We have got good days and we have got bad days. We have periods when everything, or almost, goes our way but sometimes life throws challenges at us. How we face and deal with these challenges shows how strong we are mentally. Do we look for a solution or do we prefer to throw a pity party and blame everyone and everything else? Mentally strong people take responsibility for their actions.
- Being patient – we all have heard the saying that life is a marathon. And that is so true. When we have a goal, we need to take certain steps to achieve it. That takes time. All quick schemes are not good because they sit on an unstable foundation. When we take our time to become better at something, we lay a much more stable foundation. For example, a fad diet will give us fast results but they are not sustainable. However, if we change the way we eat gradually into a healthier one we lay a solid foundation by creating new habits and we can stay slimmer and healthier.
- Being generous – here we are not talking only about money. We can be generous with our time or knowledge. We can pass on the knowledge we have and help someone else to grow. Or we can teach someone else our skills and help them become better. All that leads to us helping others get better and through that helping us be better
- Being humble – We all want to have better lives or even be successful in one area or another. However, truly successful people do not brag about their achievements all the time. Bragging about our achievements all the time creates additional enemies because other people will see us as self-absorbed or they will be jealous of our success. We need to be able to discern when to show off and when not to. Mentally strong people know when and where to show their achievements.
- Not dwelling on mistakes – we all make mistakes. I am yet to meet a person who hasn’t made a mistake. How we will learn if we do not make mistakes? However, if we keep on dwelling on a mistake that we made ages ago is just a waste of energy. Living in regret simply drains the life force out of us. It is a much better approach to acknowledge the mistake and find a way to fix it, if possible, or learn from it. Mentally strong people accept that they have made a mistake and learn from it.
- Not holding grudges – Who doesn’t know the saying “The revenge is best served cold”? I do have a different perspective on it. The more time passes, the calmer we are. The calmer we are, the better the decisions we make. Anyway, the best revenge is our own success. So if we can find it in our hearts to forgive and move on, is the best revenge. Holding on to the grudge keeps us focused on the other person instead of ourselves and our growth. Mentally strong people know how to forgive and move on.
- Taking responsibility – taking responsibility for our decisions and actions is really empowering. If we do not take such responsibility we live in victim mode. Victim mode is a disempowered state of mind. So this begs the question: Do you want to feel empowered or disempowered? Mentally strong people know that if they do not take responsibility for their lives, they allow them to be used for others’ gratification.
- Knowing when to walk away – Walking away from something or someone, that does not support our growth is self-care, not cowardice. Knowing when to cut our losses and move on is wise, instead of keeping investing until depletion. Mentally strong people know which one of their connections is beneficial or not, they know which situation helps them grow or not. Chose wisely.
- Being true to yourself – this is one of the biggest, yet hardest achievements we can have. To be authentic sometimes means we will lose people we value because they do not agree with our way of understanding how life is to be lived. Being true to yourself is really hard, especially if we hold beliefs contradictory to what society wants us to believe in. But being true to yourself feels like freedom, feels like breathing fresh air, feels good. Mentally strong people know the power of authenticity.
If you are struggling with any of these points and you want to become mentally strong, book your session with me
