I’m sharing this article by Steve Mann of Minnesota Hockey on Mental Toughness and Resiliency. Knowing we all share the mutual interest of making athletes better, I think you will find it very interesting. I appreciated being approached by Steve to share my perspectives in the article.
Here’s the link. https://www.
I purposely used the term “Mental Fitness”. The term Mental Fitness changes the narrative away from the damaging myths of the often-used “Mental-Toughness” term. I believe “Changing the narrative” helps “change the paradigm.”
Over the years, the stigmas about mental health have been changing. I’ve been told that I can’t talk about mental health and performance psychology together because it will scare people away. In some cases that is true, but over the last 20 years, my experience tells that most of the time it is not. We seem stuck believing many of the myths about mental toughness and mental health.
The last year has been extremely challenging time for everyone on planet. The stress we are all feeling often can be indicators that we are having challenges with coping and many times we are either reluctant to address them because of the stigmas associated with these myths. As the pandemic has unfolded, the need to challenge the myths has grown – because our mental health is suffering.
Demand for our services has never been greater and our reach is limited by the hours in the day. We feel a responsibility to do as much as we can. I would sincerely appreciate your assistance in helping us to change the conversation and the stigmas. Initiatives like #BellLet’s Talk are terrific, and we want to help amplify them!
So, this Friday, February 19, I am launching Mental Fitness Fridays. We plan to create a series of short videos we can all share to help change the conversation and better understand how to build Mental Fitness.