The world of mental health can be confusing. There are so many words to remember and decipher. I’ve had a few conversations this week about the difference between mental health, mental wellness, mental illness, and mental fitness. I suspect I will have many more, but today, let’s focus on mental fitness.
As a mental fitness coach, I help women leaders to lead and succeed in life, career, and relationships by becoming better stewards of their mental health. The area I focus on with women leaders is their mental fitness.
Mental fitness coaching is best suited for women who are in an overall healthy state but want to build their mental muscles. They want to be more emotionally flexible and spiritually nourished. It works best for women who are ready to start moving forward on their goals but need a mental trainer to help them get there.
Mental fitness is at the core of how well we move through life.
It is at the root of whether or not we explore and impact our world in wellness or illness. Mental fitness is comprised of our positive thoughts, flexible emotions, and mental strength. It’s the intertwining of these elements to nurture a resilient mind.
The state of our mental fitness is impacted by our environment, life experiences, relational interactions, upbringing, physical health, and genetics. Depending on where we are in life, the strategies and approaches required may be different. As a mental fitness coach, I use a holistic approach to building mental resilience that can withstand the stressors and uncertainties of life.
A mentally fit mind empowers us to think through life situations with a lens of clarity and confidence.
It allows us to see our emotions as a vital source of information that guides us to healthy practices of renewal and restoration. Mental resilience steers our behaviors onto paths that heal rather than steal from our potential and productivity. It’s not a part of us….it is us.
How can you be more intentional about your mental fitness?
I want you to start by seeing your mental fitness as a partnership with your physical fitness. We are all pretty well versed in how to improve the health of our physical bodies. Now I challenge you to become well versed in the fitness of your mental body. How you think, feel, and behave is a part of that process.
As a matter of fact, if you are already on a physical fitness journey, this is a perfect time to partner the two. This partnership is a joint effort between the physical and the mental.
This is how your partnership will work.
The elements of your physical fitness will be connected to a mental fitness enhancing practice.
I’ll give you a few examples:
[1] While you are stretching your body and increasing your physical flexibility, consider stretching your mind and focusing on ways that you can be more flexible in how you are managing your life stressors.[2] As you are picking up your weights and focusing on the strengthening of your muscles, partner that with a method that you will use to strengthen your relationships and support system.
[3] As you are focusing on losing a few additional pounds through cardiovascular exercise, identify the pounds of toxic relationships that have built up on you over the years and consider losing those too.
The building of your mind doesn’t have to add hours to your day, just strategy and intention to your life.
Mental fitness means that you have psychological resilience. It empowers you to cope with stressors in a way that creates a life that bends but doesn’t break. It positions you to rise to the occasion of overcoming life circumstances that challenge your stability and capabilities.
It’s a dynamic process of being in tune with your challenges at any given moment or life season. It means having awareness of what you need in the form of resources or strategies that help you cope and grow.
A few tips to consider as you build your mental muscle:
- A healthy body is connected to a healthy mind.
- Develop a strong support system that you can lean on when your mental stability gets wobbly.
- Use coping strategies that work for you and allow your mind to rest and reset.
Take some time this week to consider what area of mental wellness you need to focus on. No matter the decision, get started and seek additional support from a therapist, life coach, or another health professional if needed.
The Me Myself and HER Podcast version of this discussion will be available today. Subscribe on your favorite podcast listening platform to be the first to know.
