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Mental Fitness

Wellbeing is an important thing!

Wellbeing (noun) - a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous

As a twenty-something year old young adult who’s been (quite busy) transitioning from student life into working life*, working from home the past few years, dealing with all that is the pandemic, growing up & adulting etc., I’ve come to realise (amongst many other big things) that it really is not that straightforward to “look after yourself”!

In this blog post I want to reflect just a bit on looking after yourself (and looking after each other).

I’m a software engineer by profession so don’t have any formal qualifications on this subject - I’ve had to read up on this! Grateful to the psychology and health people out there!

So, these are just some of my thoughts and findings to get you thinking, for awareness if anything 🙂

Most of this blog post came out of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z5BCKaMQDc which I recommend you watching (at least the start).

*Interestingly enough, there is social research to show that wellbeing is also deeply tied to work https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/publications/books/work-wellbeing/. But let’s just start here with ourselves - because whilst you often can’t easily(?) change other people or the situation, what you do have control over and can change is yourself.(ref #1) It’s about how you respond and what you will do!

Mental fitness leads to good wellbeing

Mental fitness comes from the small activities (habits?) that we build into our daily routines.

Mental fitness is key to resilience - the ability to bounce back, take things in your stride, maintain a sense of purpose and positivity. To thrive under pressure.

Mental fitness is not from: having a perfect relationship, living in a certain place, having all the things you need in life, etc.

  • Wellbeing is almost completely unrelated to our life circumstances

Mental fitness is NOT Mental health

Analogy: Training at the gym can strengthen us, but if you have a broken leg you need to see a doctor to fix it. You can’t run on a broken leg!

An interesting observation from Jenny George (from the video) is that virtue (ethics & morals) is connected to habits which lead towards wellbeing.

  • Philosophers: The “good life” (the life of goodness and virtue; the life good for us; good for others; and makes us feel good)
  • Which habits and character traits lead towards a virtuous life?
    • Socrates, Saint Paul, Confucius all arrived at similar wisdom, as does modern times research (Character Strengths and Virtues - Seligman 2004)

Which activities?

Research shows that ‘You’ time (being kind to someone else) has a much bigger and more lasting effect on our own wellbeing than vs ‘Me’ time (being indulgent to yourself).

Model of mental fitness

Mind

  • Building mental fitness means cultivating a mindset characterised by hope, a mindset that is positive, that uses setbacks as learning opportunities
    • e.g. Growth mindset - acknowledging and giving myself room (grace and compassion) to grow, as well as towards other people too
  • Taking time out to be mindful (meditation, remembering to be thankful)

Body

Because mind and body are deeply interconnected

  • Exercise
  • Eating good foods
  • Sleep
  • Cutting back on alcohol and drugs

Spirit

  • Nature
  • Purpose in our life
    • Particularly work (*told you so!)

Community

  • Having at least 4 people (from research) to trust and confide in
  • Giving to others (time, money)
  • Being kind w/o expecting a return

The good life → actually echoes wisdom of the Bible

The above list sounds familiar to the Spiritual disciplines you’d hear from a pulpit. As a Christian, it's really cool to find that research echoes God's wisdom and the gospel principles found in the Bible! Jesus is the ultimate teacher of wisdom after all ("Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" - 1 Cor 1:24).

  • Giving thanks to God (saying grace before a meal → gratitude)
  • Live a life of purpose (true and lasting purpose in God)
  • Living in community (Hebrews 10)
  • Give and forgive, love your enemies
  • We must lose our lives in service to God and others in order to find them (Matthew 16:25)
  • etc!

Examples of what this has meant for me....

  • Mind: Journaling as reflection. Saying ‘no’ to being 'crazy busy' (in what I do, commit to, and in my headspace). Taking heart & finding deeper hope and assurance in Jesus. Seeing hardship as the discipline and love of the Father (Hebrews 12), and so to not lose heart. (ref #2)
  • Body: (A bit of) swimming, running and bike riding as exercise
  • Spirit: Someone commented to me that I was posting a lot of nature pics on my Instagram during lockdown... 😂 How much do the Psalms give praise to God in His creation and its splendour?
  • Community: I am deeply thankful for each and every friend I’ve had and been able to connect with! Especially with the guys and all the chats (and many Zoom, WhatsApp and phone calls, given Covid). Plenty of Bible verses on sharing each other's burdens Galatians 6:2, friendship, loving one another...

Well I hope this blog post gets you thinking about how you can be improving on your wellbeing 🙂 I know I'm still figuring this all out!

References

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