.jpeg){kind=small}
One in four people in the world will be affected by mental health at some point in their lives. Statistics show about 450 million people currently suffer from mental disorders and different conditions.
Also, Mental Health and Addiction in the veteran community are the leading causes of suicide worldwide. So, when I tell people that you’re not alone, that there are literally millions of people that suffer just like you do. I mean it!
Just like there’s millions of people that suffer, there are millions of people that have turned their lives around, they are finding coping skills and different techniques that are helping them get through it every day and becoming better and stronger version of themselves. It is very possible.
I am an example of it. One of the most Fascinating things About our human anatomy is us are brains. And with our brain comes our Mind and our thoughts and through those thoughts create our mindset. I truly believe that our mindset controls every aspect of our life.
Imagine it as our brain is a machine and then you have a dial that controls which mode setting it’s on. Are you on the positivity channel or are you on the negative channel. Are you on the Hope and desires, or are you on self-pity and failure and the Victim mentality channel?
The way it works is simple, if you use your mindset in a negative way, your life is going to be full of negative things. Find yourself full of pain and suffering. You will be surrounded with toxic people and self-doubts.
Vice versa if you use your mindset in a positive way, then your life will become more positive. You will see better in people, you will see so much more potential in yourself, you will be full of more desires, goals, ambitions, and success. And you will find yourself surrounded by more positive and inspiring people.
When I tell people this. Trust and believe me when I tell you that 90% of people come back with the same excuse “that’s a whole lot easier said than done “Well pardon my French but… “No shit Sherlock” Right… Since when did anything worth your time or worthwhile come easy?
That’s one thing that I unfortunately must remind people out here is that nothing worth anything comes easy. Everything takes hard work. Even when it comes to your mindset it takes hard work. It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of consistency to get to the next level, not only with your mindset but in your life in general, creating success, creating financial success, finding stability, finding positive relationships, all of that is hard as hell.
Mindset also contributes to our mental health in a lot of ways. What do I mean? Not only from my personal experiences, but I’ve seen people make themselves literally sick from worrying. I’ve seen people make themselves sick by believing they have something wrong with them and they manifest it into reality. Or somebody worrying over something that hasn’t even happened yet. They are just creating anxiety, depression and even stress.
And I understand there’s a lot of traumas out here and all people can’t help that they struggle with depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar or even ADHD or whatever else you’re struggling with.
But you see I wrote… “your diagnosis does not define you” That means no matter what you’ve been diagnosed with, that mental health diagnoses don’t control you… It doesn’t mean, just because you have been diagnosed with something, that it is who you are as a person.
What I mean is, I’ve seen so many people especially in the Veteran community that have struggled but made good progress but get to the VA and “officially diagnosed” with PTSD or something else and then suddenly, they can’t do anything anymore. Even people I’ve meet that have had a diagnosis of depression or anxiety or whatever for years and they’ve isolated themselves to their home or become anti-social because they can’t talk to people.
I’ve seen these things, and they get worse because they don’t do anything to try to better themselves. They basically given up. What I’ve found is, it’s their mindset telling them that they can’t do it. Trust me, I know certain things feel impossible when it comes with different traumas and when struggling with PTSD, anxiety, depression or even Addiction.
Some of the things that I know bother people are the same things that I’ve struggled with for years. Fireworks, loud noises, big crowds, sometimes even being alone for too long.
There’s many of triggers out there That can affect someone the list goes on and on. However, if you never address those things or accept them and learn to take baby steps and try different coping skills are techniques to get better, you never will. A lot of people get a certain diagnosis and then suddenly everything turns off, they’re just not capable of doing anything anymore.
Even though like I said those things might be true, you still at some point if you need to want to get better, you have to try and like I said people don’t even try anymore, because they now find themselves are in the mentally “What’s the point” “I can’t” or the most famous “I’m broken” So with all of that, That’s why I wrote the book call (Veteran Mindset 2.0) I wanted to find solutions and not just talk about it.
I wanted to create good book for veterans but also anybody that struggles with these things, mental health, addictions and or just an Unhealthy Mindset and I believe these 5 life hacks if followed correctly and used correctly, will not only change your mindset but give you more confidence, positivity, personal strength, and a life full of abundance.
1. 1. Mindset
2. 2. Acceptance
3. 3. Focus
4. 4. Self-Worth
5. 5. Recovery
One of the things that I always tell people is that this is not a cure, these are not magic words that will change your life.
These are coping skills in life that will help you through your journey, but you must put in the work!
Mindset - Creating a positive mindset and wanting change. Wanting to be better and wanting to have the life you deserve. Creating the right mindset in the beginning is most important, you got to have the right thoughts in order to begin your journey. Everything starts with our thoughts, whatever we believe, whatever we think, will become.
So, when we start to believe that we want to be better and we start believing that we can beat or overcome whatever situations we got ourselves into or whatever diagnoses or addictions that we find ourselves struggling with, then that’s when we can ultimately start the process to a Healthier Mindset. We can learn coping skills and techniques to get better, but we must have the right Mindset. It’s like having the motivation to get started.
Don’t have the right motivation you won’t get started on the same thing with your mindset.
Acceptance - Many people go through life struggles with different traumas, mental health, addictions, and Pains and never really understand that they can create a better situation by simply accepting the struggles they have been through. Accepting your current situation is major key factor to finally getting to the next level. My question to you is this...
If you never accept the things that you’ve been through or the pains and struggles, then how will you ever grow to the next level? You can’t!
The deal is, once I accepted that I struggled with addiction and I suffered with mental health, I was able to start concentrating on overcoming and coping with those situations.
Focus - I truly believe once we start focusing on the goals that we want to reach and stay consistent that’s when things are happening. Once we have learned to Accept our struggles and our current situations, then we must start focusing on what the next plan is. For me the next plan is to start focusing on how to get better.
Start focusing on what it is I need to do to reach that next level mindset so I can have the things that I want in life and live the life that I want.
You got to get rid of all the negative distractions in your life and focus on all the Positivity. When you really start focusing and having clarity on exactly what you want then you can start making those things happen regardless of what you’re going through or what you’ve been diagnosed with or what you struggle with!
Self-Worth - Self Worth I believe is one of the biggest reasons people fail. So many people quit or give up on themselves before they even get started. I gave up on myself multiple times because I didn’t believe in myself. That’s why it’s so important to love, believe, and know that your life matters. When you start to love yourself and know your value and know your worth, you start to realize that nothing in this World can stop you.
I will never tell you any of this is easy, but if you want to change you have got to be the change and loving yourself is a huge key factor. Knowing how much you matter, knowing that you can beat whatever you’re going through.
No, your self-worth and you will no longer have to worry about things in your life getting in your way!
Recovery - Recovery is the last life hack. It simply means that you have gotten through all the steps. Once you reach the level of recovery, you understand that it is not only from alcohol, drugs, or trauma, it is staying in Recovery, it’s being in a 2.0 Mindset It’s Learning to cope with your struggles, but also learning to stay in that mindset.
You will never be 100% “Perfect” and that’s OK. It’s the progress that matters, it’s better today than you were yesterday! Every day will be a battle, every day will be a struggle, but knowing that you are coping with whatever situations or struggles you’re facing.
Getting into the Recovered Mindset is winning half of the battle, you must maintain that right mindset and continue to put in the hard work to achieve the maximum 2.0 Mindset!
Make sure you practice these daily and find what skills and techniques work best for you.
Remember... "It's Ok Not To Be Ok"
- Shawn Laurie
You can learn all of this in depth and more, by purchasing my Self-Guided book on Amazon or by clicking the link.
Veteran Mindset 2.0
Comments