How fit is your mental health? The question may be out of the ordinary, but is worth considering and answering.
Why is that? Because according to a study, Stress in America 2020: A National Mental Health Crisis, commissioned by the American Psychological Association, shows over one third of Americans are living with extreme stress. Three-fourths of Americans state that money and work-related issues are the leading cause of their stress.
This begs the question, what is mental health and how is it different from mental illness? Mental health is our overall well-being: how we cope with stress, communicate with others at home and work, and our sense of purpose and meaning. While mental illness is a diagnosable condition that affects our thinking, emotions, or behaviors. It’s important to keep in mind that mental health and illness are complex issues and unique to each individual.
Since the 2020 study, we have experienced a national pandemic raising fears, concerns and divisiveness among family members, friends and colleagues about the validity of the threat and the efficacy of vaccines. In more recent times, we see and feel an economy provoking our own instability and uncertainty about the future. And there is a deepening divide between opposing views about the economy, culture and democracy, causing us to become more aggressive and divisive with each other.
Collectively, these societal dynamics are, for some people, disrupting or challenging their core values, beliefs, and outlooks about their future. These external forces can shakeup their way of life and produce a lot of stress from fear of the unknown and uncertainties ahead. It can even lead to relationship breakups, job loss, and personal financial downturns, increasing stress.
It is during times like these when our mental health fitness is being challenged. What does this mean? It means how we experience, make decisions and take actions during the complexities of daily tension shows our level of fitness to take care of ourselves and others. For some of us, this tension overwhelms our ability to focus on what’s important and can lead us into immobility and self-doubt. With the passing of time, these unresolved tensions can deepen with depression, anxiety, mood-swings, isolation and anger, to mention a few experiences.
It is a challenging and uneasy time when we wrestle with ourselves and others, questioning our purpose, actions, and relationships. Some of us may choose not to understand the source of our angsts, but project out our fear and unresolved issues and concerns onto others, or be critical and judgmental of them, as a false sense of relieving our suffering, even for a short period. While it may feel good initially, it not only doesn’t get to the core issues and relive our suffering, it can also damage our relationships with those we most care about and create an unsatisfying life.
These responses highlight our shortcomings in achieving optimal health, making sound judgments, managing stress effectively, and displaying resilience in the face of life’s inevitable difficulties. Thus, not mentally fit.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a challenging and difficult time, don’t downplay it; take action by seeking support from a coach, colleague, friend, or mental health professional to create a personalized fitness plan.
One such plan is a personal mastery journey helping individuals awaken their self-knowledge, clarify their goals and values, learn to ground themselves in the face of adversity, and have the emotional intelligence to move effectively toward one’s healthiest and best self.
These powerful skills can help us see, understand and respond to opposing difficulties, people or situations with confidence. We can learn to see these opposing realities not as conflicts or obstacles blocking us, or something to be avoided, but as situational dynamics I call an ‘edge’—an edge of uncertainty where something ends and something else can begin.
When we get confronted with conflicting views, disruptive events, or unfulfilled promises, we can choose a response other than getting emotionally triggered, fearful, or angry. We can take a timeout by breathing from our center, feel the ground beneath our feet, and call out the situation, ‘Oh, it’s an edge’.
By calling a conflict an ‘edge’, we give ourselves some distance and time from the situation’s tension, even slightly, to see it more objectively as an opportunity to make a decision that aligns with our goals and values. During this moment, we can accept the situation, let it go, counter offer, insist or decide an action to resolve the issue to take care of ourselves or others with dignity and kindness.
Naming conflicting situations or periods of indecision as an ‘edge’, we build a healthy competency making it easier to acknowledge the conflict or challenge as a catalyst to sharpen our focus, and prioritize our actions for understanding, connection, and choosing an appropriate response despite any obstacles. It is a handy skill to shift our focus from being in situational tension to realizing we have a choice.
Try it during the day. When facing a conflict or uncertainty, personally or professionally, pay attention to how your energy and perspective can shift when you say, “Oh, it’s an edge.” You will be amazed at how this new frame of reference can help diminish emotional tension because you see it as an ‘edge’ of what is and the possibility of what it can become.
Consider how your physical fitness is essential for sports like skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, running, or basketball, and understand the equal importance of mental fitness: the adaptability to changing conditions, the resilience to overcome setbacks, and the creativity to find healthy solutions in challenging situations. It’s like two sides of a coin: the mind and body, yin and yang, interconnected and inseparable.
Be fit, stay healthy.
For useful personal mastery tools, visit my website at https://www.tyronepolastri.com.
