Interesting Psychology Team
4 – Wishing Things Were Different
Wishing that things were different than they are can be painful. Whether you wish your parents were different, you didn’t have so much on your plate, or your living situation was better, dwelling on things will only cause resentment, regret, worry, and missed opportunities. Mentally strong people don’t sit around βwishingβ for a better life. They use their energy to do the best they can in any situation.
5 – Feeling Sorry For Themselves
Although mentally strong people arenβt afraid of negative emotions like sadness, they don’t allow themselves to fall into despair or hopelessness, and they never pity themselves. Rather than letting negative emotions consume them, they cope with discomfort in healthy ways.
This could be journaling, going for a walk, or problem-solving. Even in the worst situations, there is still room for hope and gratitude. During hard times, mentally strong people shift their focus on what they have, instead of thinking about what they donβt have and insisting they deserve more.
6 – Complaining To People Who Can’t Help
If you find yourself in an unfair or unsatisfactory situation, you might feel that you need to vent to process your emotions. But complaining to people who have no power to help you isn’t all that productive. That’s why mentally strong people don’t waste their energy complaining, it doesnβt do any good.
They rather do something about the situation, by bringing their concerns to people who actually have the power to change it or do something about it. Whether that means bringing a problem to a supervisorβs attention or expressing their feelings to a friend who hurt them, mentally strong people use their words to create change, not complain.
7 – Rehashing Things They Can’t Change
Ruminating on mistakes from the past holds you to your pain, and it can prevent you from moving forward and developing emotionally. Mentally strong people don’t rehash things they have no control over, like old arguments and failures. It doesn’t serve them. They choose to focus on managing their emotions and their lives.
If they can fix a situation, they will; if not, they accept reality for what it is. Life isn’t easy. Your mental strength will be tested time and time again, and each time that that happens, you need to remember that strength is just as much about what you don’t do as it is about what you do. The more challenging life becomes, the stronger you’ll need to be.
Main Takeaways
Fortunately, mental strength is something that everyone can build. It requires self-awareness and a commitment to destroy those self-destructive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that hold you back. Like all practices in life, mental strength takes dedication, constant effort, and hard work. It won’t always be pretty, but it will teach you how to reserve your energy for what really matters in life.
