up:: Health MOC X:: Whole body mental health tags::#on/mental-health novelty::
Link to Reference
url: Issue No. 160: The Mental Health Gym | Fitt Insider
Key Ideas
I’m really bullish on Mental Fitness
Because though everyone likes to talk about mental health, there’s still a myth that it only kicks in when you’re struggling.
There’s still a stigma: If you’re working on your mental health, you must be troubled.
But what about when you’re not anxious, stressed, worried, or depressed? Do you need a strong mind too?
Of course. Of course. Of course.
It’s like only thinking about your health when you’re sick. Obsessing over cures and medicines, but ignoring your health when “things are okay.”
For many years, we optimized physical fitness while ignoring mental fitness
In 2017, Kevin Love, a professional basketball player had a panic attack during an NBA game.
Reflecting on that experience:
“In the NBA, you have trained professionals to fine-tune your life in so many areas. Coaches, trainers and nutritionists have had a presence in my life for years. But none of those people could help me in the way I needed when I was lying on the floor struggling to breathe.”
You can read more about it here: Kevin Love on Mental Health: Everyone Is Going Through Something
From elite athletes to casual exercisers, there’s so much information on how to optimize our bodies
“These are the best workouts” “These are the best diets” “This is best pillow and mattress for sleep”
We have so many experts on how the body works.
Where are the mental fitness experts and coaches?
How are you building mental fitness?
How do you work with your saboteurs?
All of us have a voice inside that hits us with negative self talk.
It tells us we’re not good enough. Or that you shouldn’t have done that. Or that you need to 100% in control. We all have our own flavor of saboteur self talk.
Are you able to recognize and intercept those voices? Or do you let it take control of your day and hijack you?
How are you using your ‘slow brain?’
Most of the time, we’re thinking in a hyper-rational mode.
It’s the kind of thinking that a lot of modern life asks us to do. We have to be critical, rational, always thinking and deciding.
But mental fitness comes from a different mode of thinking. One that is more emotional and intuitive.
A great way to practice this is to do activities that “slow your brain down.”
Who are you having honest conversations with?
Last thing that helps a lot is to engage in real honest conversations with people.
It can be a close friend, it can be a therapist or a coach, it can be a support group.
Open, honest, and vulnerable conversation moves us away from a hyper-rational mode of thinking and builds up our mental fitness.