Mental Fortitude

Childhood

Instability was my home.

As a child and teenager, I was entitled, angry, irresponsible, impulsive, vengeful, unrestrained, and the list can fill a page.

Did I learn it from my parents? Siblings? Was it the culture I grew up in? Wait a minute, or was it the trauma of being born during a war?

Instability was my home.

But was I “home?” Home is supposed to be the opposite. It’s supposed to be the place to draw power, comfort, and stability.

Because instability was my home, I was comfortable with it. This was a surprise to my friends, colleagues, and loved ones. But I did not know better. Because you know…

Instability was my home.

Early Adulthood

Instability meant projects were started but never finished; frustrations took over too easily. Friendships were started but never cultivated; minor slights were amplified in my chaotic mind. Identities were tried but never adopted; the earliest signs of difficulty snowballed into crippling doubt.

But I had big dreams. And I couldn’t escape reality anymore because “wherever you go, there you are.” I needed to rebuild my home to have a chance at being big.

After Reading ALL The Self-Help Books

I wish I could tell you that Jung, Adler, Freud, Nietzsche, and countless books on personality, spiritual, and chemical disorders had the one cure.

There isn’t. Trust me, I was looking for it. The magical meditation technique. The transformational breathing pattern. The balancing chemical concoction.

No one thing will optimally order your disorders. But there’s one thing that will never work—rejecting your past self.

You were the way you were out of survival, and it got you to this point. Acceptance, self-gratitude, and self-congratulations are in order.

But recognize that any disorder is more accurately described as an imbalance.

Imbalances occur when you overwork and strengthen one part to the neglect of its counterpart.

So, if you’ve been too entitled, you must now practice and strengthen your work ethic. Too angry, practice and strengthen your forgiveness. Irresponsible? Take on more responsibilities and commit to them. Too impulsive → fast.

Your goal is to balance out what you’ve been practicing for years. And this means years of strengthening the neglected parts and starving the overworked parts.

Results

And that’s what I did. For years, I starved my over-developed imbalances and strengthened my weaknesses.

I used the difficulties this path created as an opportunity to practice patience, forgiveness, control, and ownership. I took responsibility for everything that happened to me, even things that had almost no connection with my actions. I assumed I invited it if it was in my realm of reality, like the law of attraction. And if I didn’t like it, I made plans to repel that outcome from my life and followed through with action.

I rebuilt a home that I’m proud to inhabit today. Do I still make mistakes? Of course, but I try to make less as I mature.

Why should you bother stabilizing your mental state?

Because you will be home to your spouse, children, community, and team if you have any ambition to be great, and most importantly, you live in your mental home. Make your home a place to draw power, comfort, and stability.

Build the foundation that your loved ones can thrive from.

Be the giant with shoulders broad enough to accommodate our future heroes.

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