If you do not make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.

Joyce Sunada

We have come so far as a society in knowing how to improve and maintain our physical health. My 11-year old daughter knows about clean eating (and even chose to become a vegetarian!) and the importance of exercise. Here in my hometown of Cleveland, and scattered all around the globe, there are gyms, small group exercise studios, even healthy juice, and smoothie shops just about everywhere you look. We look up to fitness influencers on social media, and as an elite athlete, you are also often looked at as a role model or for guidance on what can be done in the kitchen and the gym to emulate your results.

Yet sadly, many of those same people who work out regularly or keep a close eye on their diets have NO regular practice for improving or maintaining emotional health. Why is that? We already know physical movement releases endorphins to the brain that make us feel good, and many even use exercise as a means to relieve stress, anger, or other negative emotions. Additionally, we often equate looking good with feeling good, so it's common for the two to go hand-in-hand. But the reality is, your physical health is only a part of your overall health and wellness, and just like the quote above says, "If you do not make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness" - both physically AND mentally.

I am on a mission to change this standard in our society, and if you're here, then I believe this is important to you, too. Let’s not wait until we are in the midst of a mental health crisis to reach out for help. We don't have to settle for the low-standard that's currently the norm in our society!

Your mental health is equally as important as your physical health, and I encourage you to do whatever it takes to take care of your brain on a daily basis. 

Whether that’s a gratitude practice, a daily journaling activity, or diving into the thought work I teach, it has to be conducted regularly - just like your clean eating habits and your vigorous workout routines.

Further, you can’t expect to improve or maintain emotional balance if you are not practicing your thought work regularly. 

If you've ever slacked on your training during an off-season and then returned to your first full-steam team practice, you probably know what I'm talking about. It's awful, right? Your body adjusted the reduction in activity, and getting back to where you left off is so freaking hard! You have to work twice as hard to get back on track! Our brains are no different. We have to train it like any other muscle in the body in order to maintain it's strength.

Just as you won't see physical results by going to the gym once, you have to hit that mental gym daily to see results in your life. You can't run away from your mental challenges and expect them to improve. In many cases, this leads to negative behaviors like alcohol, drugs, gambling, or sex in an attempt to fill a void or dull mental pain. Whether you want to improve your relationships, learn how to cope with anxiety and stress, better manage anger, or anything else, you have to confront the problem daily by understanding your thoughts and feelings around it. 

That's why I created Mind Your Strength Coaching to be an exclusive gym for your mind. In this gym, my clients are able to increase their emotional resilience so they can feel better mentally and truly be unstoppable in their lives.

It is not a one -time endeavor – rather a deliberate practice and attention to one’s mental and emotional health- one "workout", aka thought download and coaching session, at a time. 

If you are not doing anything for your emotional health, this is my plea for you to start. Your brain is the most powerful tool you possess. Train it to work for you instead of against you and you will master emotional well-being.

Perhaps your example will inspire someone else to take care of their emotional health, and together we can make mental training as popular as physical training. How rewarding would that be?!

If you are ready to hit the gym for your mind and master emotional intelligence so you are unstoppable, I invite you to schedule a discovery call so we can chat about how I can help.

Mind Your Strength,

Melanie Shmois