Mental Strength and Discomfort

Hi there,

How are you doing? Did you have a nice weekend?

I’m stopping by to tell you about my last Medium post, in case you missed it. Last week’s piece was about discomfort and how it builds mental strength.

A couple of years ago I discovered a powerful mindset shift. Let’s see if I can explain it.

Think of a time you had to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone, or bring up an uncomfortable topic.

We’re faced with these situations regularly. We often struggle to communicate what we want, or we do so in the wrong way, or we skip the conversation altogether. Am I right?

The first step is to become aware of what you’re feeling.

Ok, you feel uncomfortable with this. You’re scared.

And switch the mindset.

This is good. It means you have an opportunity to practice and overcome.

Then what I do is imagine the ideal scenario.

How would [insert: a person you admire] deal with this? Or how would someone with certain traits bring this up? Or even, how would I like it to be brought up if it was in reverse and I were on the other side?

What words would be used? What would be the tone? The facial expressions? The body language?

Finally, I use the self-awareness and the “good, this is an opportunity to practice and overcome“ mentality, to make it happen.

It’s like I leave my body and watch myself have the conversation from the outside. I detach from it, and from the emotions - fear - that were stopping me.

This doesn’t only apply to conversations, it applies to everything. You can always reframe the feeling of discomfort as an opportunity to overcome a challenge; to become stronger.

You should try it sometime. It’s pretty amazing.

Nothing good in life comes from being comfortable. Think about it.

Asking that person out. Waking up early to go to the gym before work. Leaving the security of a job to pursue something of your own.

But it’s not just about the outcomes being good.

The feeling itself, discomfort, builds mental strength. Pushing beyond our (perceived) limits is necessary for our personal growth.

So, back to last week’s piece.

I wrote about how I deliberately started adding discomfort to my life -

through running,

fasting,

withdrawing caffeine,

refraining from alcohol,

and ice baths.

It’s become increasingly clear to me how powerful our mind is, and it makes me feel limitless.

What’s something uncomfortable that you did last year?

And what’s something you’ll be doing more of, to intentionally introduce discomfort into your life?

I’d love to know.

That’s all from me today.

Stay safe. Safe but uncomfortable.

Speak soon x
Rosa