Growing accustomed to excessive comfort can diminish mental strength too.
In 2009, I spent 3 weeks in Japan. In a country where English is not widely spoken, I only had the maps in the appendix of my Lonely Planet book to navigate. It was fine.
Now, I get panicked when I have to drive more than 15 minutes from home without GPS.
2 years ago I felt extremely bored and mentally weak. I started working with a coach and the transformation from a weak mind to a mentally strong one has been extremely rewarding. I was the classic victim playing character. I took control over my thoughts and became the main character of my own story. It requires hard work and dedication, still today.
Thank you for this great article. It made me realise I've already grown a lot and yet, still have more potential to get better.
Hi, Tim. A timely note on mental toughness for me, just when I needed it. I'm about to start chemotherapy for breast cancer. I've heard from so many people that "The treatment is worse than the disease", but I'm not falling for that.
23 years ago I had my final surgery for another long-term illness that doctors are only getting around to recognizing as a real illness, endometriosis. I cheated death three times on that one by not hemorrhaging to death on those occasions. When a new technique to do hysterectomies was developed that did NOT push a woman into instant menopause, I jumped on it.
I had 23 very healthy years after that treatment, and no more endometriosis. So I'm pretty sure I can defeat this cancer thing too. And while I'm at it, I'll be getting ready to go to Glasgow, Scotland in August. There, I'll reconnect with friends I last saw in person over 30 years ago. That's a powerful incentive to get well on my terms.
I'm working on becoming mentally stronger. One thing that helps is to wake up at 5 am and run 13-15 km. The rest of the day seems easy. But there's a harder version of this: I'm on vacation now and try to wake up as early as possible (not at 5 am) and still run. Vacation or no vacation, running is an obsession, a lifestyle, something you can't neglect.
This was a really uplifting post Tim. Good reminder to work that mental muscle and muscle up. The beginning of the post reminded me of Bill Bryson's hilarious book on OZ - In a Sunburned Country. Made me laugh just remembering his book. Thanks for that.
This is so timely Tim! I quit a job that kept scheduling me for back to back 12 hour shifts (4 days off tho not consecutively) without having a new job lined up. I did that ridiculously busy and very public job for six weeks after medical editing at home for really the last five years. I am at such a crossroads right now. I had no idea that I like people as much as I do. I know I cannot sit around and just hope to hear back from the 80-something employers I've applied to. Perhaps it's time to create something of my own. Not sure if it was mental toughness that made me to quit or just recklessness lol.
I really enjoyed listening to this, thank you! I’m not feeling particularly mentally strong right now, I think because I’m not spending enough time focusing on the present. (Struggling to let go of the past and worrying about the future!) Going to work on it though!
I have to be honest and say I don't understand anxiety as a diagnosis. Everyone feels anxious at times. I do! I've tried to learn techniques that help me reduce anxiety, while at the same time recognising that it's actually normal (or I think it is). Can we change the label? Should it be something like "pathological anxiety" for those who can't deal with it in any helpful way? Would that even be useful? So many people, including ones I know, who are on antidepressants, and it makes me really sad. I totally understand they feel this is their only solution to extreme stress, given the world we live in.
One of my areas of interest is resilience in children. Being taught a "thing" in school doesn't teach resilience. Don't get me started on helicopter parenting and the results regarding resilience and gross and fine motor skills in kids. I just shake my head at all of this.
My family have a joke - "Just harden up". We laugh, but our upbringing on a farm taught us a lot of life skills that are darned handy today.
I have a lack of self control, i notice myself every second and request my mind to do what is right but sometimes it do whatever it want. By the way i think it is part of the journey and as i read your previous article on not being a perfectionist, so i am growing with these faults.
Tim you asked, "Are you mentally strong right now?"
No, I used to be super stronger but now I found I'm not mentally stronger as I use to be.
But the good news I'm working on myself to become more stronger than ever before and going to achieve all my wildest dreams. I am happy, I am calm 🧘♂️
Badass Grandma Chronicles: One Woman's Journey. These are stories about being mentally strong and dealing with the vagaries of life and not only surviving but thriving.
Yes. 😂. There seems to be a long onboarding process. I do not start for another week or so. I'm taking a few courses as well. I definitely see the value in the support here. It's hard to imagine being paid for writing, but I know something about the wonderful catharsis it affords. Nothing to lose.
It's when parents do everything for their child, and don't allow them to do anything they think is "risky". So you cut up all their food (knives, right?), you cut all their craft things for them (scissors), they have to win everything in some way and never learn to be a good loser, or a good winner, you don't let them climb on anything (falling!). So you end up with kids with poor gross and fine motor skills, which are really important to gain from birth, and no idea how to cope with disappointment or failure. No resilience or ability to bounce back. Another term for it is lawnmower parenting (mowing down every single thing in your child's way so they never learn how to deal with obstacles and puzzle things out for themselves). That's the short version! (Oh, and you don't let them read anything that is about people "different" to them in some way, so they never learn natural empathy.)
Time travelling is almost everyone's favourite thinking activity (as in conscious/subconscious parts). I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and it was like slapping my face with a brick because most of my problems came from this time-travelling pastime.
Growing accustomed to excessive comfort can diminish mental strength too.
In 2009, I spent 3 weeks in Japan. In a country where English is not widely spoken, I only had the maps in the appendix of my Lonely Planet book to navigate. It was fine.
Now, I get panicked when I have to drive more than 15 minutes from home without GPS.
2 years ago I felt extremely bored and mentally weak. I started working with a coach and the transformation from a weak mind to a mentally strong one has been extremely rewarding. I was the classic victim playing character. I took control over my thoughts and became the main character of my own story. It requires hard work and dedication, still today.
Thank you for this great article. It made me realise I've already grown a lot and yet, still have more potential to get better.
Hi, Tim. A timely note on mental toughness for me, just when I needed it. I'm about to start chemotherapy for breast cancer. I've heard from so many people that "The treatment is worse than the disease", but I'm not falling for that.
23 years ago I had my final surgery for another long-term illness that doctors are only getting around to recognizing as a real illness, endometriosis. I cheated death three times on that one by not hemorrhaging to death on those occasions. When a new technique to do hysterectomies was developed that did NOT push a woman into instant menopause, I jumped on it.
I had 23 very healthy years after that treatment, and no more endometriosis. So I'm pretty sure I can defeat this cancer thing too. And while I'm at it, I'll be getting ready to go to Glasgow, Scotland in August. There, I'll reconnect with friends I last saw in person over 30 years ago. That's a powerful incentive to get well on my terms.
I'm working on becoming mentally stronger. One thing that helps is to wake up at 5 am and run 13-15 km. The rest of the day seems easy. But there's a harder version of this: I'm on vacation now and try to wake up as early as possible (not at 5 am) and still run. Vacation or no vacation, running is an obsession, a lifestyle, something you can't neglect.
This was a really uplifting post Tim. Good reminder to work that mental muscle and muscle up. The beginning of the post reminded me of Bill Bryson's hilarious book on OZ - In a Sunburned Country. Made me laugh just remembering his book. Thanks for that.
This is so timely Tim! I quit a job that kept scheduling me for back to back 12 hour shifts (4 days off tho not consecutively) without having a new job lined up. I did that ridiculously busy and very public job for six weeks after medical editing at home for really the last five years. I am at such a crossroads right now. I had no idea that I like people as much as I do. I know I cannot sit around and just hope to hear back from the 80-something employers I've applied to. Perhaps it's time to create something of my own. Not sure if it was mental toughness that made me to quit or just recklessness lol.
I really enjoyed listening to this, thank you! I’m not feeling particularly mentally strong right now, I think because I’m not spending enough time focusing on the present. (Struggling to let go of the past and worrying about the future!) Going to work on it though!
I have to be honest and say I don't understand anxiety as a diagnosis. Everyone feels anxious at times. I do! I've tried to learn techniques that help me reduce anxiety, while at the same time recognising that it's actually normal (or I think it is). Can we change the label? Should it be something like "pathological anxiety" for those who can't deal with it in any helpful way? Would that even be useful? So many people, including ones I know, who are on antidepressants, and it makes me really sad. I totally understand they feel this is their only solution to extreme stress, given the world we live in.
One of my areas of interest is resilience in children. Being taught a "thing" in school doesn't teach resilience. Don't get me started on helicopter parenting and the results regarding resilience and gross and fine motor skills in kids. I just shake my head at all of this.
My family have a joke - "Just harden up". We laugh, but our upbringing on a farm taught us a lot of life skills that are darned handy today.
I have a lack of self control, i notice myself every second and request my mind to do what is right but sometimes it do whatever it want. By the way i think it is part of the journey and as i read your previous article on not being a perfectionist, so i am growing with these faults.
Tim you asked, "Are you mentally strong right now?"
No, I used to be super stronger but now I found I'm not mentally stronger as I use to be.
But the good news I'm working on myself to become more stronger than ever before and going to achieve all my wildest dreams. I am happy, I am calm 🧘♂️
I am mentally becoming stronger than ever before.
Everything works out fine for me.
The real pandemic is weak heart. A person who never quits never fails.
Are you related to Dan Denning from Bonner Research?
Badass Grandma Chronicles: One Woman's Journey. These are stories about being mentally strong and dealing with the vagaries of life and not only surviving but thriving.
Yes. 😂. There seems to be a long onboarding process. I do not start for another week or so. I'm taking a few courses as well. I definitely see the value in the support here. It's hard to imagine being paid for writing, but I know something about the wonderful catharsis it affords. Nothing to lose.
It's when parents do everything for their child, and don't allow them to do anything they think is "risky". So you cut up all their food (knives, right?), you cut all their craft things for them (scissors), they have to win everything in some way and never learn to be a good loser, or a good winner, you don't let them climb on anything (falling!). So you end up with kids with poor gross and fine motor skills, which are really important to gain from birth, and no idea how to cope with disappointment or failure. No resilience or ability to bounce back. Another term for it is lawnmower parenting (mowing down every single thing in your child's way so they never learn how to deal with obstacles and puzzle things out for themselves). That's the short version! (Oh, and you don't let them read anything that is about people "different" to them in some way, so they never learn natural empathy.)
Time travelling is almost everyone's favourite thinking activity (as in conscious/subconscious parts). I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and it was like slapping my face with a brick because most of my problems came from this time-travelling pastime.