Amy Morin

Although most of us don't spend time thinking about our thoughts, increasing your awareness of your thinking habits proves useful in building resilience.

Even though your emotions aren't wrong, that doesn't mean you have to stay stuck in a particular mood. You can certainly choose to make changes that will influence the way you feel. If you want to change the way you feel, change the way you think and behave.

Most of us are never educated about feelings. Instead, we're expected to learn socially acceptable ways to deal with feelings by watching the people around us. But the truth is, many people don't role model healthy ways to deal with feelings.

Proactively working to develop mental strength increases your resilience to stress and reduces the toll it takes on you both physically and mentally.

Stress impacts the way we think, feel, and behave. It often leads to a negative, self-perpetuating cycle that is hard to escape.

Being ill-prepared and unequipped to deal with life's inevitable challenges leaves us vulnerable to the dangerous effects of stress.

Truly successful people don't rise to the top by acting tough; they become better by growing stronger.

Engaging in good habits 90 percent of the time, while indulging in bad habits 10 percent of time, places you at risk of being like a hamster running in a wheel. Despite all the energy you're exerting, you won't move forward. You'll never be able to outrun your bad habits.

It's difficult to look on the bright side when you're surrounded by negativity.

Pay attention to how your thoughts change when you're faced with negative people. The more time you spend dreading, fretting, worrying, and rehashing, the less time you'll have to devote to more productive things. Make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of mental energy you expend on negative people.

Don't allow negative people to steal your time and energy. Rather than complain about people you don't enjoy, choose to strike up conversations about pleasurable topics.

Empowering yourself is an essential component to building mental strength and creating the kind of life you want to live.

Being mentally strong doesn't mean you don't experience emotions. In fact, mental strength requires you to become acutely aware of your emotions so you can make the best choice about how to respond.

Sometimes people think that regulating their emotions means trying to act as if they don't have feelings. But, that's not the case. A realistic view of emotions shows that we're capable of experiencing a wide range of emotions, but we don't have to be controlled by those emotions.

Building mental strength is about regulating your emotions, managing your thoughts, and behaving in a positive manner, despite your circumstances.

Parents who achieve a successful work-life balance don't live and breathe to make their kids happy. Instead, they strive to raise independent children that will grow to become responsible adults.

Achieving a balance between career and children doesn't necessarily mean the time is split evenly. Successful parents understand there will be times when their family will need more attention and times when a career will demand more energy.

While managing a career and family leaves, some parents feeling guilty and frazzled; others seem to be able to effortlessly balance parenthood with full-time work. Parents who are able to raise well-adjusted children while also maintaining a career make sacrifices to keep the peace.

Idealism doesn't prevent problems.

Somewhere along the line, positive thinking seems to have been confused with magical thinking. There's a notion that if you think positively enough, you can make anything happen by using the power of your mind. All the positive thinking in the world won't deliver good fortune or prevent tragedy from striking.

Just like it's not healthy to think overly negative thoughts, exaggeratedly positive thoughts can be equally detrimental. If you overestimate how much of a positive impact a particular change will have on your life, you may end up feeling disappointed when reality doesn't live up to your fantasy.

It can be easy to get swept up into catastrophizing the situation once your thoughts become negative. When you begin predicting doom and gloom, remind yourself that there are many other potential outcomes.

Sometimes we see things as being black or white. Perhaps you have two categories of coworkers in your mind - the good ones and the bad ones. Or, maybe you look at each project as either a success or a failure. Recognize the shades of gray, rather than putting things in terms of all good or all bad.

As we go about our daily routines, our internal monologue narrates our experience. Our self-talk guides our behavior and influences the way we interact with others. It also plays a major role in how you feel about yourself, other people, and the world in general.

Mental strength requires a three-pronged approach - managing our thoughts, regulating our emotions, and behaving productively despite our circumstances. While all three areas can be a struggle, it's often our thoughts that make it most difficult to be mentally strong.

Narcissists - people with an inflated self-concept and a strong sense of uniqueness and superiority - seek attention and affirmation on Facebook.

Establishing healthy habits - like eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of sleep, and participating in regular exercise - can also go a long way to improving how you feel. Similarly, getting rid of destructive mental habits, like engaging in self-pity or ruminating on the past, can also do wonders for your emotional well-being.

You certainly can't prevent all mental health problems - factors like genetics and traumatic life events certainly play a role. But everyone can take steps to improve their mental health and prevent further mental illness.

Mental strength is not the same as mental health. Just like someone with diabetes could still be physically strong, someone with depression can still be mentally strong. Many people with mental health issues are incredibly mentally strong. Anyone can make choices to build mental strength, regardless of whether they have a mental health issue.

Mental health is a continuum, and people may fall anywhere on the spectrum.

Building mental strength is about learning to regulate your thoughts, manage your emotions, and behave productively despite whatever circumstances you find yourself in.

Whether you aim to lose 20 pounds or you want to launch your own business, mental strength is the key to long-term success. After all, you need fierce determination and tenacity to reach your greatest potential.

Most people fill their schedules with work, and leisure only happens when there's time left over. But it's impossible to live a rich and full life without doing things that give you joy. Forget about productivity once in a while and give yourself permission to goof off.

Creating time to reflect on your life could be the key to reaching your greatest potential.

Being stuck in a rut can kill your creativity, stress you out, and zap your productivity. Doing the same thing over and over again causes your days to blend together.

Whether you want to exercise more often, or you're hoping to become debt-free, real change happens in stages. Slow and steady progress is great - as long as you're taking steps in the right direction.

Mentally strong people don't shy away from change - nor do they expect immediate results.

Although we may think we're masking our insecurities or portraying ourselves in the most favorable light, our behavior on social media reveals more than we might think. It's not just what we post on Facebook that reveals information about our personalities - it's also what we don't post that can be quite telling.

People with a mental illness aren't mentally weak. In fact, many of them are incredibly strong. And just like everyone else, they possess the ability to create positive change in their lives.

Conscientious people are self-disciplined, hard workers who spend the least amount of time on Facebook.

Examining your behavior on social media could give you insight into your own personality as well as how others perceive you. You may think you're presenting yourself in a certain light, only to discover other people view your behavior completely different.

Friends have a big influence over how you feel, think, and behave.

Pick friends who make poor choices, and you could get dragged down fast. But, if you choose friends who inspire and challenge you to become better, you'll increase your chances of reaching your goals.

The greatest things in life tend to happen outside our comfort zones, and doubting your ability to step outside of your comfort zone will keep you stuck.

Impulse decisions can often be our downfall when it comes to sticking to good habits. Do something to buy yourself some time when you're experiencing those 'moments' of weakness, and often, the urge will pass. If you keep the cookies in a box in the basement, you might find it's not worth the effort to go get them.

Just because you're struggling with self-discipline doesn't mean you have to raise the white flag and declare your self-improvement efforts a complete failure. Instead, work to increase the chances that you'll stick to your healthier habits - even when you don't feel like it.

Rather than dispute their shortcomings or hide their mistakes, resilient people are authentic. Their humble, self-aware approach assists them in developing strategies to become better.

Resilient people aren't afraid to admit they have weaknesses. Whether an effective leader acknowledges problems within an organization, or an individual recognizes areas in need of personal growth, resilient people use failure as an opportunity to spot their weaknesses.

Resilient people recognize that no matter how bad the circumstances are, their situation could always be worse. They don't allow themselves to exaggerate how terrible their problems are, and they don't run around predicting how much worse things are going to get. Instead, they view failure with an accurate perspective.

After a hard day, choosing to do something to help you feel better - as opposed to staying in a bad mood - is a healthy skill.