When confronted with losing your job, severe health issues or even death in your family, you are facing a natural depression and anxiety that will storm your life and career. Failure is to remain where nature left you, but Courage is to bounce back stronger and stay resilient.

By Emile Fakhoury
Mental strength is one of the most essential aspects of handling depression and anxiety when life storms hit us mercilessly.

Through my life and career experiences, I have developed and learned new skills to help me remain resilient and responsible to grow and stand on my feet. I wanted to share this in this article:

1-Embrace difficult situations as opportunities to grow
Difficult situations affect our vision, and we only feel the pain and nothing else. Our challenge is to see beyond short-term vision and develop opportunities to grow.

The first step is to embrace the situation you cannot escape and accept it to see the opportunity that could move you, sometimes horizontally, to choose a different career path or explore a new experience. As time passes, you realise that life doesn’t end there; there are many things to explore and roads to pave the way.

2-Confronts what scares you
Murphy’s law: " Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

From that perspective, start confronting what scares you rather than hiding or waiting for it to damage your plans. Draft a plan for when this will happen or has already happened, and prepare your actions and backup plan so this doesn’t scare you anymore.

3-Challenge negative thoughts
Opposing ideas are self-destructive ideas to your mental health and can sometimes alter your physical health. Avoiding negative thoughts if possible, but also think logically and challenge these negative ideas by reasoning and simulating realistic scenarios that assure your mind and reduce the likely occurrence of these ideas even in your imagination.

4-Stay on your path; don’t get distracted by others
Comparing your case or performance with others will make you feel demotivated. Everyone has their own consideration, successes, and failures; we are different. You may learn from others’ successes or failures, but make your path and don’t ever look back in the mirror to others walking next to or in front of you. This is your life to control.

5-Use failures as lessons
I never regret any experience in my life, and I call it ‘experience’ not ‘failure. ' Life experience is the best teacher to make us resilient. It is not the end of the world to fail, and we will all fail at some point or another in our lives, but what is essential to remain mentally strong is to rebound from our falls, stand up, and re-try in different ways, learning from our experiences.

6-Build a strong support network
Your support network is the group of people you trust and trust and will support you during your low situation. Don’t confuse your support network with your professional network, which is essential to your professional growth. Your support network could be small but effective to motivate you and improve your resilience.

7-Practice mindfulness
Practising mindfulness in the morning, midday, or evening can help you clean and clear negative thoughts. Practice mindfulness in your comfort area to maximise its benefits and return renewed and refreshed.

8-Setaside time for creative activities to stimulate your brain
It has been noted that creative activities stimulate your brain, help you generate positive ideas, and remain resilient.

I used to go hiking with friends outside the city and travel outside the grid to allow my brain to stimulate new ideas that will bring you joy and improve your productivity.

9-Regularly reflect on your progress to reinforce positive behaviours
When I walk 5 km or 10 km, I often look back in the middle of the way to see how much I have walked and to self-motivate to finish the path. Similar to physical activity, regularly checking your progress will reinforce positive behaviours.

Remember your achievements, even the small ones, that, despite the challenges, helped you achieve the level you are at now. This will strengthen your self-confidence and make you more resilient.

10-Consistently push your limits to develop mental resilience

“The brain is wider than the sky.” – Emily Dickinson.

Neuroscience states that our capacity for growth and change occurs through neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity means that our brains can change and grow regardless of our age. With new experiences and thoughts, we can form new neural connections, which can help us break free from old, limiting patterns.

To this degree, the brain is malleable and adaptable to change.

If we remain in our comfort zone, we limit our brain’s capacity to form new neural connections,  vital for growth and adaptability.

11-Understand that real, lasting change takes time
Research shows that it takes 60 days of repeatedly doing something to turn a habit. In this fast-paced society, we must understand our capabilities. Any change will take time and energy to realise and start positively impacting our lives.

Finally, my last tip is to focus on what you can control. Change is constant in your life, and you would have many factors impacting your growth.

You should focus on what you can control to Become Mentally Strong!