The term ‘mental toughness’ can mean different things to different people. The mental toughness we at Compare the Health are referring to is the ability to strive through life no matter what life may throw at you. Some people may ask “how do you gain mental toughness?”. There’s no secret trick or process to which you finally click your fingers and say ‘I’ve done it, I’m mentally very strong’.
Gaining mental toughness is an ongoing process which happens in times of hardships and struggles. Everyone goes through some form of struggle, some more than others, but you can either let that consume you and give you an excuse for everything that goes bad in your life. Or, you can switch your mind-set and think ‘well I went through that rough time in my life and have come through the other side with valuable lessons learnt and more life experience’.
This shift in mind set is key for when you do come up against future struggles, you’ll switch your mind set to see the positives from what is happening in your life. The phrase ‘there’s beauty in the struggle’ is something that resonates with us. If you speak to anyone who is highly successful or just really appreciates life as it comes, a huge portion of them will have gone through a struggle/hardship but continued on their journey regardless rather than, like mentioned earlier, using the struggle as an excuse.
Gaining mental toughness can mean you start taking events that happen less personally and learn to let them go. An example of this could be during your morning commute to work, you get cut up by another driver. Instead of letting your blood boil over and put you in a bad mood for the rest of the morning and potentially the rest of the day, remember that mistakes happen and it’s not worth putting yourself into a negative mindset as you’re only damaging your own mental health, not anybody else’s.
One thing we can suggest, is start by doing something you have been putting off for a while, whether it be an assignment for your studies, or a chore around the home, or DIY, or that workout you’ve put off for a while. You will find that the more you do these things that you don’t want to do and keep putting off, they will keep increase your mental toughness and give you a huge sense of accomplishment!
By doing so, you will feel more entitled and more appreciate rest periods more!