Don't let others drain your mental strength. That is one of the recommendations on how to maintain mental resistance psychologist Amy Morin published in her worldwide bestselling book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. It means you shouldn't let other people lead your life - realize that it's up to you to control your emotions and react to the behavior of others.
"Making a conscious choice to take back your power is key to being in control in your life. But before you can create positive change, you need to recognize the ways in which you're giving your power away," explains Amy Morin in a recent article on the Psychology Today website. She recommends you to keep to the following rules in order to maintain your mental strength.
9 steps to preserve your mental resistance
1. Don't waste you time complaining. You should rather invest time in looking for solutions to your problems.
2. Accept full responsibility for your emotions. Nobody's behavior can dictate how you should feel.
3. Find healthy physical and mental boundaries in your life. Take control over who you spend time with and how.
4. Learn to forgive. Feeling long-term aversion to someone will not harm that person, but only yourself.
5. Clarify your values in life. Do what you think is right, not what others think is best.
6. Don't waste you time unnecessarily thinking about things that aren't worth it. Focus your thoughts instead on important things.
7. Don't talk about yourself as a victim who needs to do what other people want. Although you have to count on consequences, it is always you who makes decisions about what you will do.
8. Don't relate your self-esteem to what others think about you. You can never make everybody like you and agree with everything you do.
9. Don't be afraid to be different. You don't have to fit in everywhere.
Book
MORIN, Amy: 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do. New York: HarperCollins, 2014. 272 p.
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