How Mental Strength and Etiquette
Help You Persevere

Mental strength is a lot like physical strength. Developing healthy habits of mind is important and requires intentional self-care by determined effort. It is often neglected, however, as it is not directly viewed by others or oneself.

Etiquette embodies knowing the guidelines and social rules that anyone can choose to acknowledge and belong to membership in polite society. When you courteously introduce yourself and are kindly inclusive of others during meetings, you are sending peaceful signals, just as you do when you hold a door for the person behind you, or outstretch your arm to brace an elevator door allowing others to enter. The social niceties of always saying "please" and "thank you" simply make you feel good.

When being etiquette-ful is a stated aim, a groundwork develops for that necessary balancing of knowing what to put first. This contributes greatly to mental strength.

Developing Your Mental Strength

Mental strength involves your ability to think, feel, and be at your best. You can make choices and take actions that help you grow mentally stronger, with resilience as an outcome.

A strong and healthy mind says to life, “Bring on the challenges!” It fortifies you when times get hard. Mental wellness gives you the muscles to shine through the events of life and contributes to the forgiving state of mind needed to weather events that happen by no fault of your own. It helps in sustaining compassion and a calm mind.

As with any other goal, building mental and emotional resilience requires structured practice. Try incorporating each of the following activities into your daily routine so that they become habits:

Carve out a measured amount of time for mindfulness through prayer, meditation, or quiet reflection on inspiring reading or listening.
Deep breathing exercises are crucial to your body’s overall well-being which, in turn, is beneficial to your mental health.
Sustain a period of time each day when you focus on only one thing at a time. Notice that in this moment you are simply doing and thinking of one task or activity.
Be physical. Walking, running, going to the gym. Exercise increases serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the brain and it improves and normalizes neurotransmitter levels, which ultimately helps us feel mentally healthy.

Finding Strength Through Etiquette

Our resilience and mental strength can be found when life circumstances change unexpectedly through loss or drastic changes. But prevail we must.

This means that even though our personal situation affects us, our reactions to the situation shouldn’t necessarily affect other people who are not directly involved.

The following questions are helpful when you want to etiquette-fully persevere:

Am I focused on what I can control?
Am I being kind and considerate to each person I engage?
Am I over-engaging with “the news” and activities that upset me?
Am I choosing what I know is healthy for myself?
When upset, do I reach out to share with someone who is good at listening?
Am I staying connected with family and friends every day?
Am I reaching out to invite others into my circle, keeping my eyes open for someone needing help?
Am I engaging my sources of inspiration and strength?
Am I speaking about and to myself kindly?

Being mentally strong calls us to engage our humanness. Etiquette calls us to show kindness and respect to every person we encounter, and this includes ourselves.