It’s The Mental Toughness That

It’s The Mental Toughness That Really Helps Us In Adversities Mental Toughness That Can Helps Us In Navigating During Rough Weather

Life is like a long journey mostly on an undulating road, the ride can never be smooth on a long run.
Somewhere we are bound to get jerks as our life is not immune to pain, suffering, tragedies, adversities and
challenges. We can encounter such incidents anytime and anywhere during our life journey. Uncertainties
prevail. Even during our routine life, most of us invariably face personal problems relating to our relationships,
physical and mental health and financial issues. That is Life. We have seen people, irrespective of their
financial position and social status, crumbling under the pressure of adversities. Many faced their challenges
not only bravely but overcome them strongly from adversity. In fact, the real test of life comes when we face
adversities. How do we handle them?
How extreme important it is to manage the thoughts relating to those particular circumstances? Any adversity
can make us mentally and psychologically vulnerable. If we don’t know how to deal with the thoughts that are
generated on those moments, we suffer intensively. Not only we suffer mentally but also make ourselves
susceptible to mental health problems. Any traumatic incident such as death of close family member or break
in relationship or loss of livelihood or heavy financial setback can potentially lead to depression and even
people go to the extent of ending their lives. On an average 15 Indians commit suicides every day. There may
be many reasons behind suicides or attempt to suicides, but one thing is common to all. That is, they are
unable to manage their thoughts during adversities. They were not mentally tough, that’s why they couldn’t
come out from the situation of extreme hopelessness.
Mental toughness means the ability to perform under adversity. In recent times, this quality of mind has
received attention as we are working more and more under stressful environment. In fact, this term initially
came from sports, where it’s used for athletes. To succeed as an athlete, it’s the primary requirement. It’s
widely believed that success of sports personalities largely depends on their mental toughness. Resilience is
extremely important during adverse situations. When we are mentally tough, we act mindfully with resilience,
perseverance, and determination.
According to American Psychological Association, mental resilience means, ‘adapting well in the face of
adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress’. How easily and smartly we get
adapted to such situations is the key to become ‘a mentally tough’ person. More rigid we are during adversity,
greater are the chances to break under severe mental stress. Mental toughness allows us to adapt and
succeed under difficult conditions. How early and easily we recover back from any adversity or traumatic event,
to a large extent, depends on toughness of our metal ability.
Be like Bamboo: Bamboos are known for their strength as well as flexibility and resilience. Like bamboos, we
should also be strong and easily adaptable to new life’s conditions whenever the need arises. Bamboos can
withstand any strong windy situation. They just bend under wind pressure but then revert back to straight
position when storm eases. There is a famous quote of Bruce Lee, ‘“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily
cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
Like bamboos, we should stand tall and straight but flexible enough to withstand any outside pressure. Under
challenging times, we need to act strongly but at the same time flexible and adaptable. There is also saying
worth quoting that, ‘Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any
circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back even from the most
difficult times. We should believe in our own capabilities and be confident under any adversity we may come
across. We should never be rigid in our beliefs. Our belief system should always be flexible to handle any
changed conditions with additional inputs/information.
Be Stoic: The Roman philosopher, Epictetus, the founder of Stoicism, had very correctly remarked that, “For
good or for ill, life and nature are governed by laws that we can’t change. The quicker we accept this, the more

tranquil we can be”. We must accept our limitations in controlling the external surroundings. The things which
are beyond are control must not be the source of our strong reactions. Similarly, we should remember that
“whatever has happened, has happened, and in any other ways such things would have happened”. We
should accept those things wholeheartedly.
Mental toughness, according to stoicism, is based on 3 important parameters. First, focus on things over which
we have control like our thoughts, behaviour and actions. Second, accept the things where we have no control
or things that have already happened, never worry over them. Third, we should be able to express feelings of
‘indifference to indifferent things.’ We should not, as far as possible, bother about things which are not directly
relevant to us. For a stoic, it means, ‘only worry about what matters to you. Everything else is noise.’ If we
adopt these components of philosophy, we can become mentally flexible as well as strong.
Be mindful: One of the biggest problems of humanity is the inability to exercise complete control over our
inner world. Most of the time we are on autopilot mode, mind is working default mode network (DMN). Most of
the actions (more than 90%) are unconscious, automatic and impulsive. We are not conscious and mindful in
the sense, it’s not ‘present in the moment’. Because of this nature of mind, we are not, truly speaking, the
author of our behaviour, actions and choices we make. Unless we are fully aware and conscious about things
that are happening inside our mind and in the world around us, we can’t understand the nature, quality, and
extent of any problem that we encounter inside and outside us.
However, if we start living mindfully, we become increasingly aware of what is going on around us. This is
called meta-awareness, to be aware of awareness. When we are stressed or emotionally disturbed, we regain
equilibrium much faster if we are mindful. In other words, we have the ability to recover faster from virtually any
distressed and troublesome situation. When we suffer from anxiety, stress, negative or depressing thoughts,
mindful behaviour helps us in overcoming most of the life’s distressing situations.
Take away: As long as life goes well, even with routine problems pertaining to health, relationships, finances
or with boss or colleagues at work place, it really doesn’t matter. There is no one who doesn’t encounter such
difficulties in life. Inherently, life is complex and deeply interwoven with large number of factors. Everyone’s life
is unique. That’s why, everyone reacts and behave differently during adversities. However, experience shows
people who have better control over their inner world, that is mind and thoughts can overcome difficult times
quickly with greater ease. Even under worst possible circumstances, we are free to think and make choices.
Viktor Frankl who was an Austrian psychiatrist and a holocaust survivor, very rightly said that “everything can
be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set
of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”.

It’s the mental toughness that really helps us in adversities
Mental toughness that can helps us in navigating during rough weather

that are generated on those moments, we suffer intensively. Not only we suffer mentally but also make
ourselves susceptible to mental health problems. Any traumatic incident such as death of close family member
or break in relationship or loss of livelihood or heavy financial setback can potentially lead to depression and
even people go to the extent of ending their lives. On an average 15 Indians commit suicides every day. There
may be many reasons behind suicides or attempt to suicides, but one thing is common to all. They couldn’t
manage their thoughts during adversities. There were not mentally tough, that’s why they couldn’t come out
from the situation of extreme hopelessness.
Mental toughness means the ability to perform under adversity. In recent times, this quality of mind has
received attention as we are working more and more under stressful environment. In fact, this term initially
came from sports, where it’s used for athletes. To succeed as an athlete, it’s the primary requirement. It’s
widely believed that success of sports personalities largely depends on their mental toughness. Resilience is
extremely important during adverse situations. When we are mentally tough, we act mindfully with resilience,
perseverance, and determination.
According to American Psychological Association, mental resilience means, ‘adapting well in the face of
adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress’. How easily and smartly we get
adapted to such situations is the key to become ‘a mentally tough’ person. More rigid we are during adversity,
greater are the chances to break under severe mental stress. Mental toughness allows us to adapt and
succeed under difficult conditions. How early and easily we recover back from any adversity or traumatic event,
to a large extent, depends on our ability to show mental toughness.
Be like Bamboo: Bamboos are known for their strength as well as flexibility and resilience. Like bamboos, we
should also be strong and easily get adapted to new life’s conditions whenever need arises. Bamboos can
withstand any strong windy situation. They just bend under wind pressure but then revert back to straight
position when storm eases. There is a famous quote of Bruce Lee, ‘“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily
cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
Like bamboos, we should stand tall and straight but flexible enough to withstand any outside pressure. Under
challenging times, we need to act strongly but at the same time flexible and adaptable. There is also saying
worth quoting that, ‘Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any
circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back even from the most
difficult times. We should believe in our own capabilities and be confident under any adversity we may come
across. We should never be rigid in our beliefs. Our belief system should always be flexible so that under
changed conditions or with additional inputs/information.
Be Stoic: The Roman philosopher, Epictetus, the founder of Stoicism, had very correctly remarked that, “For
good or for ill, life and nature are governed by laws that we can’t change. The quicker we accept this, the more
tranquil we can be”. We must accept our limitations in controlling the external surroundings. The things which
are beyond are control must not be the source of our strong reactions. Similarly, we should remember that
“whatever has happened, has happened, and things would have happened in any other way”. We should
accept those things wholeheartedly.
Mental toughness, according to stoicism, is based on 3 important parameters. First, focus on things over which
we have control like our thoughts, behaviour and actions. Second, accept the things where we have no control
or things have already happened, why worry over them. Third, we should be show ‘indifference to indifferent
things.’ We should not, as far as possible, bother about things which are not directly relevant to us. For a stoic,
it means, ‘only worry about what matters to you. Everything else is noise.’ If we adopt these components of
philosophy, we can become mentally flexible as well as strong.
Be mindful: One of the biggest problems of humanity is the inability to exercise complete control over our
inner world. Most of the time we are on autopilot mode, mind is working default mode network (DMN). Most of
the actions (more than 90%) are unconscious, automatic and impulsive. We are not conscious and mindful in
the sense, it’s not ‘present on the moment’. Because of this nature of mind, we are not, truly speaking, the

author of our behaviour, actions and choices we make. Unless we are fully aware and conscious about things
that are happening inside our mind and in the world around us, we can’t understand the nature, quality, and
extent of any problem that we encounter inside and outside us.
However, if we start living mindfully, we become increasingly aware of what is going on around us. This is
called meta-awareness, to be aware of awareness. When we are stressed or emotionally disturbed, we regain
equilibrium much faster if we are mindful. In other words, we have the ability to recover faster from virtually any
distressed and troublesome situation. When we suffer from anxiety, stress, negative or depressing thoughts,
mindful behaviour helps us in overcoming most of life’s distressing situations.
Take away: As long as life goes well with even with routine problems pertaining to health, relationships,
finances, or with boss or colleagues at the workplace, it really doesn’t matter. There will no one who doesn’t
encounter such difficulties in life. Inherently, life is complex and deeply interwoven with a large number of factors.
Everyone’s life is unique. That’s why everyone reacts and behaves differently during adversities. However,
experience shows people who have better control over their inner world i.e. mind and thoughts can overcome
difficult times quickly with greater ease. Even under the worst possible circumstances, we are free to think and
make choices. Viktor Frankl who was an Austrian psychiatrist and a holocaust survivor very rightly said that
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”.

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Philosophy Of Life, Stoicism, Death & Relevance Of God