1. Waste Time Feeling Sorry for Themselves.
2. Give Away Their Power.
3. Shy Away from Change.
4. Waste Energy on Things They Can’t Control.
5. Worry About Pleasing Others.
6. Fear Taking Calculated Risks.
7. Dwell on the Past.
8. Make the Same Mistakes Over and Over.
9. Resent Other People’s Success.
10. Give Up After Failure.
11. Fear Alone Time.
12. Feel the World Owes Them Anything.
13. Expect Immediate Results.
Maybe I am being overly sensitive, but I do many of these things, so I have come to the conclusion that I am not "mentally strong". And I know a lot of people who have done these things, people that I admire even.
It feels to me that these things are so far up on a list that they are only attainable by very rare and very privileged people. Granted, I realize that none of these things are ideals that anyone should strive to do, but I think the fact that we all get caught up in one of these (or for me, like 7 of these) makes us human.
Society and the culture of success or being "mentally strong" sets people up for failure. Not ever doing any of the above things isn't what makes people "mentally strong". In my opinion, mentally strong people are the ones who do sometimes, maybe often, do the above things and find the strength to overcome them on a daily or weekly or monthly or yearly basis.
And it is so hard to go forward and fight against all these societal pressures to be superhumans. My theory is: It is okay to not be okay; however, it is not okay to stay there. That is the motto that I want to live by with my future clients. I want them to be who they are in that moment, without fear of being portrayed as "weak".
Observation:
The Workers Defense Project held a protest today in downtown Austin over a man who fired from his job for bring up safety concerns.
I enjoyed reading your blog. I agree that every human being experiences everything on this list at some point in their lifetime. I feel that for us to be mentally strong we have to fail in order to succeed. When we learn from our mistakes that is what makes us stronger. There is not on human being who does not experience these types of feelings in my opinion unless they are emotionally detached from their feelings.
ReplyDeleteI think that it sucks to voice your concerns about issues that are going in at your job and be fired.
This list is stupid. I'd like to talk to the person who experiences none of this and find out what their secret is. I think they [Forbes] have this wrong by the way. A mentally strong person does not not experience those things. A mentally strong person is able to overcome challenges. A mentally strong person doesn't not have challenges. I feel like this is a pretty basic concept.
ReplyDeleteWow thanks for bringing this to my attention! According to this list I am not mentally strong either. I think that this list makes it impossible for anyone reading it to fall into Forbes definition of "mentally strong"
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