Mind Fuel: Simple Ways to Build Mental Resilience Every Day

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Paddy: Bear Grylls can walk across a desert with no supplies and be okay. He can eat super gross stuff and be okay. And he can trudge the path of positive mental health with tiny steps of doing the next right thing. But what I find most interesting about him, is that he is absolutely convinced that the rest of us are just as capable of doing all these things. I was never saying, ‘Look at me. I'm, I'm, you know, it's, uh, it's one man's quest against the world.’ Because that's a, first of all, it's an empty quest, and it's a lonely mountain. Community groups. There might be campaigns or volunteering projects to improve your local area and community. Do IThas information on volunteer groups in your area. Or visit myCommunity for information on how to set up a community group.

Bear: Losing my dad at a young age when I was in my early twenties, just setting out. You know, was a real, kind of real hard, hard life blow at a, at a vulnerable time. I think when I was just kind of leaving the military. Just, just got married. Shara lost her dad 10 weeks before me. People go, God, are you super positive? It's like, you gotta be joking. Nobody's super positive at four 30 in the morning when it's cold outside. Nobody's super brave. Nobody's super determined. My real wins in life are all about family and friends, not trophies or pots. I see wealth in life as being about how our relationships look. As to failure, well failure is part of life, and I have failed so many times. I like to believe that the only real failure is giving up.

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You can see this play out in his TV shows. After his breakout hit Man vs. Wild concluded, Bear's subsequent shows had him guiding other people through wilderness experiences, where they face their fears. In his ongoing Running Wild with Bear Grylls , he does this with celebrities like Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller. In a 10-episode series he made for Facebook in 2018, it was decidedly non-famous people like a military veteran who'd lost his legs that Bear took climbing and a blind woman who Bear encouraged to sprint down the side of a volcano. Bear Grylls: Mental strength accompanied by physical strength and with a clear spirituality is a winning combo that we can all develop. We can’t be truly strong if we are only strong physically. We are built for so much more. And the great survivors know the power of the mind and spirit working in tangent with the physical. It’s a life journey to get there. The terms 'resilience' and 'managing stress' can mean different things to different people. We might understand them differently because our experiences shape how we feel stress, and how easily we can respond to it. And, you know, I've had many moments where I really struggle with self doubt, struggle with, with confidence. You know, I've experienced it many times filming. You know, I'm not a natural person in front of the camera. I really struggle with the cameras. Every time it's a battle for me to go, ‘Okay, here we go. Come on.’ For me, this is why I love big adventures outside, like long runs and full days of skiing. They put me toe to toe with the voice in my head that tells me no, don't go, stop, quit.

When we fail, it’s vital to look at it as a rite of passage and a key stepping stone and marker on the way to success. After all, the good stuff lies on the other side of fear, pain, struggle and failure. Nothing that’s worth doing is easy, but when you get there it’ll be so sweet. You know, healing comes in many forms. Nature wants to heal. The sea heals us. The mountains heal us. Challenging runs, heal us. Long kayaks, healers, you know, all of this stuff.Vary your activities. Try to balance boring tasks with more interesting ones. And mix up stressful tasks with those you find easier, or that you can do more calmly. Some people may think that our response to stress is something that we can all easily control. But this is not true. There are some causes of stress that are beyond our control. And some ways of managing stress and building resilience are not always available to us. When we are very stressed, these things might not feel possible. And at any time, they might feel tiring or stressful themselves. But if you feel able to do so, some things you could try include: You have a book full of ways to build mental resilience. Do you follow your own advice or do you sometimes need reminders yourself? Take some time to think about situations that might make you feel stressed. You could do this on your own or with someone you trust. You could consider: