Physical fitness gets plenty of attention, and for good reason. A healthy body can prevent a variety of conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, and helps us maintain independence as we age. Often when people think about ‘being healthy’, they are thinking about physical health.
But do you think as much about being ‘mentally healthy’ - because your mental health is too important to be left to chance! Research has shown that most people don’t even consider their mental health until they are in a crisis..
If you want to be proactive about your mental health, a good place to start is by building resilience. When we learn the tools, strategies and routines to help protect our mental health, we know how to respond if we ever find ourselves starting to struggle.
Resilience is all about growing despite adversity. More than simply bouncing back, resilience is about becoming more adaptable, strong, flexible, and prepared for an uncertain, chaotic, and sometimes unfair world. Does this sound familiar?
Mental Fitness can provide a pathway to becoming resilient. It is a mindset, a process and a set of strategies for developing, maintaining and improving good mental health.
- The mindset for Mental Fitness means we think about our mental health just like our physical health, acknowledging it can change for better or worse over time. We understand that some of the lifestyle factors that affect our mental health are within our circle of influence.
- The process of building Mental Fitness - like physical fitness - is to have a set of meaningful goals to progress towards. We need to accept that sometimes it will be hard, there will be setbacks, we may lose motivation or occasionally we may reach out for professional support.
- The strategies for Mental Fitness are the things we can do that impact our mental health. These are the positive activities that can increase our wellbeing. To increase our wellbeing, we need to develop daily rituals.
Mental Fitness implies that things can and do change for the better. There is always hope. If life is a struggle, it means we can turn things around with a change of strategy. If things are going well, we have the opportunity to grow and develop.
10 Daily Strategies for Building Mental Fitness
Here are some strategies you can use to start building up your Mental Fitness.
- Remind yourself each day that your ‘level’ of mental health is not inevitable. Yes, there may be genes or circumstances that affect your mood, thoughts, and feelings, however what we do can also impact how we feel.
- If you would like to try meditation, don’t make the mistake of always trying to ‘clear’ your mind. Thinking during meditation is not failing. Simply try to ‘notice’ your thoughts as just that – thoughts – then return your focus to whatever you have chosen to concentrate on.
- Take regular stretch and water breaks while working and try to stand up and stretch at least once per hour. Setting an hourly alarm can be useful when you’re working on an absorbing project or task, and a break can help to reenergize you.
- At the end of each day, write down on a ‘post-it-note’ one thing you grateful for, and keep them all in a box or jar near your computer. On days when you can’t think of any, or you are feeling a little blue, take one out and read it so you can be grateful again. Listing all the things you are grateful for when trying to fall asleep is also a great antidote to overthinking.
- Find opportunities for generosity that are not necessarily financial. A compliment, thank you or considerate gesture goes a long way for both the giver and the receiver.
- When you find yourself lost in worry, ask yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?”, followed by “If that did happen, how would I handle it?” Much of our anxiety comes from the ‘what if….’ and can be resolved by the ‘and then I would….’.
- When something is stressful or bothering you, ask whether “… it is truly in your circle of control?”
- When managing ‘big’ emotions like stress, anxiety, and depression, change the label from “I am anxious” to “I feel anxious”. This helps us to remember that the way we feel is not inevitable and there’s more to you than just that emotion.
- Do you expect a problem free life? If so, you are likely to be unhappy and prone to anxiety or depression. Consider the idea of accepting change, setbacks, and loss as inevitable in advance, and see ‘life happening’ as a challenge, not as an obstruction to your deserved happiness.
- When you find yourself worrying about something, get into the habit of asking yourself three questions. Firstly, “is this true?” Secondly, “how can I know this is true?” Thirdly, “if it is not true, in what ways might it not be true? Then decide what to believe!