7 Ways to Develop Mental Resilience

1. View Your Emotions from a Different Angle

When we are stressed out, it is very easy for our emotions to get on top of us. But negative emotions do not always have to manifest as negativity in our lives. Instead it can be used to fuel positive behavior’s. For example, fear can be a crippling feeling. But rather than being paralyzed by fear, it can be an opportunity to challenge yourself and make you more careful with the decisions you make. By taking a minute to separate yourself from negative thoughts, you can change your thinking in stressful situations and take charge of your emotions.

2. Try Something New

Though this sounds like it would increase stress, doing something new has actually been found to increase confidence. This is because new experiences allow us to learn more about ourselves and shifts our mindset as we recognise how capable we are of adapting to new situations. From learning a new skill to taking a new route to work, trying something different allows us to develop a growth mindset – and this can develop mental resilience over time.

3. Look After Yourself Physically

Taking care of your physical health has long been known to make you feel better mentally. Making sure that you get enough sleep is something that many of us do not prioritise, but a lack of sleep can worsen mental health and increase stress and anxiety levels. This goes hand-in-hand with eating healthily and increasing your physical activity. Exercise has been linked to better self-esteem and better sleep, so looking after yourself physically creates the foundation for better mental health and resilience.

4. Take Breaks

Modern society has long been encouraging productivity and working longer hours. However this mentality can actually be counterproductive. Taking breaks from work and life in general can be very beneficial for building mental resilience. It gives us a chance to step back and take ourselves away from the stress of life for a moment. Whether this be taking a short holiday or just taking a day off, breaks allow us to regain energy and view life’s problems with a calmer frame of mind.

5. Build a Support Group

As humans, we are naturally social creatures. Building mental resilience does not mean we have to carry the burden of our problems alone. Having a network of loved ones to speak to can be extremely therapeutic. In fact it has been proven to reduce both physical and emotional stress. Other people can present a different perspective and find a new way to deal with problems that you may not have thought of yourself. However, if you don’t want to share your problems with others, writing down your thoughts and feeling can provide a similar amount of stress relief.

6. Think More Positively

As cliché as it sounds, actively thinking more positively can increase your mental resilience. What you focus on is what you will notice. So focusing on the negativity in situations draws our attention to every bad thing happening in every aspect of our lives. Instead, focusing on the positive in situations means we notice more of the positive things going on around us.  Practical ways to begin changing your mindset is through visualisation and affirmations. This is essentially a placebo effect – the more positively you think, the more positive you feel. Fake it till you make it!

7. Set Achievable Goals

Goal setting has been found to not only increase productivity but actually help develop mental resilience. Breaking down daily tasks into do-able targets helps us maintain focus on what needs to be done. Being able to cross off goals can build confidence in our own abilities. This develops mental resilience as knowing that you have achieved goals in the past keeps you motivated to continue to do so. So, start off by writing a short to-do list of things that need to be done for the day, and see how much better you feel when you complete everything on that list!