Health is a billion dollar, universal industry, which is predominantly cure-focused and reactive rather than proactive and preventative. It also focuses more on the physical and less on the mental, but for how much longer?
Burgeoning mental illness crises are forcing a reactive and unavoidable trend, which is scrambling to try and smudge out mental illness with seemingly disproportionate investment in prevention.
Invest in developing personal mental muscle.
Don’t board the mental health Titanic – build your mental health life raft by exercising your mental muscles everyday.
Here are 6 steps to build your mental strength
- Commit – to mind and body wellness. Include mental fitness in your daily health regime. Dedicate daily time to exercising physically and mentally, eating well, drinking plenty of water, limiting alcohol and caffeine consumption and getting quality sleep.
- Gratitude – replace self-pity with gratitude. When you find life’s challenges getting the better of you and self-pity becoming your focus, turn to thoughts of gratitude – for all you are blessed with, for friends, for blue skies…..
- Take Responsibility – for how you think, feel and act. We can choose how to respond positively even during our most challenging times. Part of taking responsibility means taking the time to plan and set goals and then choose how we want to reach our goals.
- Embrace Failure – Failure is a great opportunity to learn and not repeat dysfunctional patterns of behaviour. Failure can lead us on new paths to better and brighter futures.
- Accept change – as an inevitable part of progressive life. We often choose the path of least resistance, for safety and security, but mainly because people resist the uncomfortable feeling that change and the unknown brings. Challenging our minds to embrace the feelings of discomfort that come with not knowing or losing control is a powerful way to build mental resilience.
- Be alone – when we are alone we create an opportunity to collect and reflect, in silence and solitude. Often people fill the silence with television, technology, and social media. Being alone provides opportunity for learning, self-development, relaxation and growth. If we allow ourselves to reflect on our actions, how we impact people’s lives, and where we are on our life’s journey, we are investing in our mental health and resilience and opening up opportunity for growth, progress, and inner peace.
Certainly life presents challenges, which is a wonderful opportunity to mature and develop into a mentally robust, health person.