Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.

This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.

Okay. You're listening to The Friday Fix.

Today I'm talking about how to grow mentally stronger.

But before I start talking about how to build mental strength, First, I want to explain what mental strength is.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be mentally strong. I hear people say things like,

be strong, don't cry. But not crying isn't exactly a hallmark of mental strength. In fact, having the courage to experience and express your emotions takes way more strength

than it does to suppress them.

Too often, though, people assume being strong means you never get upset or that you don't

experience self-doubt.

But those things aren't true either.

We're all human and we're supposed to have emotions, even the uncomfortable ones.

And a big part of mental strength is knowing how to deal with those uncomfortable emotions,

as opposed to ignoring them or pretending that they don't exist. Emotions aren't the only part of

mental strength, though. There are actually three parts to mental strength, thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Let's break those down. So the first is about how you think. Mental strength involves realistic

thinking. When I say realistic, I don't mean you can't have big dreams or outrageous goals.

Instead, I mean realistic as in rational or accurate. Many of the thoughts that

run through your head aren't true. Your brain might try to convince you that you're not good enough

or that you can't ever do anything right. Knowing how to respond to those untrue thoughts in a

healthy way is an important aspect of mental strength. That doesn't mean your

thoughts should be overly positive, though. Stepping into a really tough situation thinking,

...