How-to Build Emotional Endurance

With a world so focused on physical fitness, it’s just as important to take note of the cues that will help build the endurance of our emotions.

Most of us aspire to be in optimum physical condition, so we take the stairs instead of the elevator, we train for marathons, practice yoga poses continuously until we can hold them, or join a gym with a goal to attend at least three classes a week. We invest our time, money and energy into building our bodies and physical resilience, to be able to perform better and reach the goals that we need it to. 

The benefits of physical exercise and endurance are endless and engrained in our minds at a very young age. However, we often overlook regimes that build emotional resilience, often until times of crisis.  

Protecting our mental health and safeguarding our emotional abilities should be met with the same rigour as a physical practice, and sometimes it can be as simple as approaching the day to day challenges in your life with a different mindset. 

So how do you build that internal staying power that keeps you going, despite the outside opposition factors?

1. Reframe the concept of challenge or struggle

There is a great quote that says, ‘challenges make us into challengers.’ Whether person or professional, incidental or consequential; challenging situations teach us to build positivity and resilience. They help us discover who we are, and ultimately allow us to learn and develop through them. This means that you can either take a ‘why me’ approach to those obstacles coming in thick and fast, or you can find strength through adversity and see it as an opportunity to thrive outside your comfort zone. 

2. Trust what you already know

You are resilient. You have faced obstacles before. You can do this. Sometimes taking a step forward, means acknowledging and honouring all those that you have already taken. When facing hardship or struggle, it’s useful to take stock of those challenges that you’ve faced before and what you learnt from them about yourself. Good chance is you’re stronger than you think and that you’ve already shown evidence of this multiple times before. 

3. The start-line is half the battle

Getting yourself to the ‘starting line’ of anything new in life, means you’ve already won on so many levels – the most important part being is that you have shown up. It doesn’t matter what happens next as it’s all a learning experience – but just be honest, open and willing to tackle something unknown, and possibly in a new direction, is an amazing achievement on its own. You know those unflappable people who seem to be able to just ‘go with the flow?’ This is because they have the ability to show up, and ride the tide of change, all without being too hung up on the outcome. 

4. Watch your words

Be mindful of the way that you talk about struggle or hardship. Does the language that you use around it support the outcome you want? We all know that saying ‘Watch your thoughts; for they become words’ - but it works the other way around too. What you say defines your mindset, and your mindset defines your course of action. 

5. See your success  

Sometimes when we are feeling emotionally fatigued, the end doesn’t seem in sight. Whether at work or personal, the idea that it’s just not possible to achieve the task or goal in mind, is your biggest hurdle. The most important step to conquering any challenge, is first believing you can and that it’s possible. Create a daily mantra that you can come back to during stressful times and make positive visualisation part of this process. You are strong. You are capable. And you are enough.

Need a mindframe re-set and some help seeing the challenges in your life differently? Join us at our next event. Retreat from the day-to-day, and rediscover your emotional and mental clarity, calm and abilities.