It’s time to rebuild (Image: Getty / Metro.co.uk)
Just like physical strength, you need to build mental fitness.
This is what allows you to stand still when things come that blow your mind.
Mental strength means knowing yourself, having calm self-confidence, and knowing that you are endowed with the skills to overcome obstacles and overcome difficult times.
After a pandemic of grief, trauma and disappointment, it is more important than ever to work on it.
So how can you do that? And what challenges could you face on the way to better mental wellbeing?
Get in touch with you
How are you really doing Has the past year had any impact on you that you may not have fully addressed yet?
Psychotherapist Noel McDermott advises looking out for some signs that Covid has affected your mental fitness:
- You drink more than usual or have realized that your relationship with alcohol is not healthy
- You find that you are more anxious than before
- Your mood is low
- You feel more sensitive to things
- You feel uncomfortable in social situations
- You have developed disrupted eating habits
Understand why mental fitness is important
“Mental fitness describes a series of attitudes and lifestyle choices that increase our resilience to life events that cause psychological stress,” explains Noel. “As the term suggests, it derives from the idea that physical fitness comes from choices like healthy eating and an active lifestyle, that we do these things out of habit and on a regular basis.
“We all understand that if we want to be fit, we have to be active or go to the gym regularly and eat well. Likewise, we can improve our mental fitness through regular healthy psychological habits and decisions.
“Mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness, and in a post-pandemic world we must take the time to work on our mental health and remove some of the psychological stress caused by Covid-19.”
Get introspective (Image: Getty Images)
How to restore mental fitness after the pandemic
Noel explains four important steps to working on your mental strength.
Learn
Knowledge is power – learn to understand emotions, spot early warning signs of distress, and identify your personal bad patterns.
It can help to keep a journal in order to really go deep into one’s mental state.
“Some of the early warning signs are insomnia, mood swings, changes in appetite and eating, increased anger, consumption of alcohol or drugs or food to cope, excessive vigilance towards threats, sudden weight gain or loss, feelings of impending doom, losing interest in things, those you normally like feel hopeless, think about harming yourself, ”explains Noel.
Take care of your physical health
It’s hard to be your best mentally when you don’t take care of your body.
Get some exercise during the day – preferably outdoors – prefer sleep, eat nutritious meals, and drink plenty of water.
Manage unhelpful thinking
“Recognize thoughts that are not helpful (I am a failure) and replace them with more balanced thinking (I feel like a failure, but I managed to reach X today, or I have a loving family, etc.),” suggests Noel.
“Brooding over these unhelpful thinking styles decreases the motivation to take action to change and creates a vicious circle.
“Try to abandon unhelpful thinking styles that are more common, such as ‘all or nothing,’ sometimes referred to as black and white thinking, which leads to a feeling of catastrophic failure or manic success.
“Thoughts affect feelings that affect actions that confirm or question the original thought.”
More: Mental Health
Challenge yourself
It’s time to peel off the sofa and get out again.
Says Noel, “Since we avoid feeling uncomfortable, we can find ourselves in a situation where we avoid things that might be helpful to us.
“Especially now, many people may worry about going to groups, work, shows, etc., but these things are very closely related to our well-being as social animals.
“So we have to fight the fear that could lead us to avoid that and expose ourselves to what we see as a threat.
“Avoidance and procrastination are classic signs of anxiety and should be considered in relation to exposure work.”
Do you have a story to share?
Contact us by email at MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
MORE: Health classes in the workplace don’t do enough for mental health, suggests a study
MORE: Simple breathing exercises for anxiety at work
MORE: Should more jobs give us a week off to deal with the pandemic burnout?
