How to Toughen Up (Mentally, That Is)

Toughness is experiencing something that is subjectively distressing, and then leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take a thoughtful action that aligns with your core values.

Think of 3-5 things that matter most to you. They may be guiding principles of your life or aspects of the person you want to become.

Then write a sentence or two on each, describing what they mean to you. These are the values you’ll want to act in service of when the going gets tough.

When you react to it, that's when it transforms into suffering.

You can learn to experience pain neutrally is through meditation: it teaches you to accept pain, sit with it and then move on, instead of reacting to it with stress.

A mantra is a short and meaningful phrase you repeat to yourself.

When you're facing a stressful situation, it helps by occupying the brain enough so that it doesn’t get caught up in obsessing, planning, and catastrophizing.

Don’t turn away from challenges. If you want to get better at anything, you’ve got to stress yourself. 

Just make sure that you follow these challenges with periods of rest and recovery.