Mental Hardiness

Mental Hardiness

“Mental Wellbeing” has proved to be another important facet during the Covid-19 as most of us are going through stress, sadness, irritation, anxiety and other mental problems. The New Normal demands us to stretch our mental capabilities and deal problems in ‘not so normal’ ways. In such cases, do we have the right strategies in hand to dispense? 

Mental Hardiness is the new flexible way to cope up and revive from our stressors. “Hardiness has been put forward as the pathway to resilience under stress.” (Bonanno 2004; Maddi 2005) Hardiness provides a person with a power to deal and manage stressful situations with active coping strategies. Hardy people transform the potentially threatening events and build an upward spiral of learning and growth.

Here is a model of Cognitive Hardiness given by Kobasa and Maddi. The 3 dimensions or the three Cs of hardiness are said to concomitantly affect the cognitive appraisal and the behaviour in response to the stressors.

   Challenge- challenges are inevitable. Life is perceived as naturally challenging and being as innately stressful. If a person is mentally hard, she/he accepts and embraces the challenging nature of life and recognizes the growth possibilities. This mental framework not only helps the person to think alternative solutions while dealing but also increases the wisdom and confidence to handle any future stressful situations. Challenges keep a person in constant learning mode, where faith in oneself and wisdom are the outcomes. One has to come out of comfort zone and confront the challenge. And believe that life will give you challenges in order to help you grow. A non-hardy person is constantly complaining about the stresses and cannot accept the existence of a challenge in life. Rather they tend to negate any stressful situation and remain un-optimized. 

    Control- control is the attitude that makes a person feels ‘in power’ rather than powerless during stressful situations. Control is characterized by

·         perceived control over life events

·         internal locus of control

·         persistence in getting fruitful end results from the stressful event

People who are in control of the situation bring in more creative ideas and deal effectively with the situation. The person never tries to be passive or go powerless. This attitude helps the person to find alternative routes to reach the solution.

    Commitment- in a very generic sense, commitment refers to the dedication and involvement towards family, organization, and society. Mental Hardiness vouchsafes the person to be committed even when things get harder or difficult. For example a hardy person will be committed to a partner even though conflicts brew up between them.

Generally, we see that a person detaches herself or himself from the stressful work and dispenses less energy. People who are committed tend to show tremendous attachment and involvement towards the event or the organization even under stress. The person is more active player than a passive receiver. As defined by Maddi & Kobasa, “Hardiness is a general sense that the environment is satisfying, which leads a person to approach situations with curiosity and enthusiasm or commitment.” 

What can you do?

ü  Acknowledge and embrace the challenge.

ü  Get out of your comfort zone.

ü  Be committed and show energy while dealing the situation instead of alienating.

ü  Try to find out alternative ways of dealing.

ü  Have an internal locus of control.

ü  Learn and take help from your loved ones.

ü  Use active coping strategies like problem solving.

ü  Focus more on task.

Do not let difficulties and stressful situations hinder you from reaching your goal. Take effective and active steps towards solving the problem. Try to bring in these hardy attitudes in life. You surely would grow along the way.