“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” – Emiliano Zapata
Achieving mental strength means adopting a mindset that allows you to take on any of life’s challenges, whenever they may arise. We continuously need to feed ourselves with positive messages to remind us that we are not victims – and we have the ability to choose our fate through perseverance and mental strength.
The real picture that you firstly need to change in order to successfully start on this journey is in your mind – subconscious mind. This is known as self-image, how you see yourself in your mind, not the one in front of the mirror.
The second part of this journey is improving your art of asking important questions. One of these questions I suggest you ask is, ‘Who am I becoming here?’ Avoid the most popular question which is, ‘What’s in it for me?’ What is the difference here? Let’s say you are in a job that’s eating away at your soul everyday but your only comfort is the salary you are getting. If there’s no challenge in this job or the environment is toxic but you hang on because of the salary ‘what’s in it for you’, then you are selling your soul away. At the end of the month, you get an eagerly awaited salary, but for the twenty nine days of the month, you are becoming mean, angry, bitter, impatient, mistrustful and missing the present moments because you are never present. This simply means, you are becoming toxic by the day. At the end, it’s less about what you got and more about who/what you became.
So, what’s eating away at your soul every day? Write those things down, seek for help and confront them as part of developing your mental toughness. Seeking for help is not a sign of weakness but of strength and desire to stay strong and even get stronger.
Being in a place where there’s no challenge is not good for you as a human-being. As human beings, we’re built for challenge and without it, we get weaker and weaker by the day. We are built to take on a maximal load, that’s what strengthens you because life is extraordinarily difficult. You have to be awake, strong and sharp to stay on your feet and fight for what you want instead of being on your knees. Yes, I rather die standing up to the odds and having a full life in spite of its challenges than to live on my knees, acting as a slave or servant.
“Why that one? The wind has been beating that tree down since the day it was born. But it refuses to fall. It’s the struggle that gives it its beauty.” – Rose Mary Walls’ character when replying to her daughter about why she chose to paint a certain tree standing tall in the desert, The Glass Castle.
Embracing challenges in your life, instead of playing a victim by throwing your hands in the air, ensures that you grow through them instead of being crushed by them. Remember, life is like a grinding stone, it can either polish you to a shine or grind you down into a powder depending on how you position yourself towards it.
Your dreams have long been calling you, it’s time to pick up and answer the call!
Veli Ndaba is a Professional and Motivational Speaker, Life-Coach and Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Author of two books (You Are Born to Win, Your Dream is Calling You and SWITCH ON!), Newspaper Columnist and Entrepreneur. To book him to help you and your team unleash your greatness, contact him on veli@velindaba.co.za , www.velindaba.co.za and 083 304 9773