13 Things Mentally Strong People Don\'t Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success pdfdrive com

RECLAIM YOUR POWER
Without confidence in who you are, your entire self-worth may depend on how
others feel about you. What if you offend people? What if they don’t like you
anymore? If you choose to put up healthy boundaries, you may receive some
backlash. But if you have a strong enough sense of self-worth, you’ll learn that
you can tolerate the repercussions.
Lauren learned that she could be firm with her mother-in-law, while still
behaving respectfully. Although she was terrified of confrontation, Lauren and
her husband explained their concerns to Jackie together. Initially, Jackie was
offended when they told her she could not come over every night. And Jackie
tried to argue when they explained that she would not be allowed to make rude
comments about Lauren’s rules for the children. But, over time, Jackie accepted

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that she had to follow these rules if she wanted to come into their home.
IDENTIFY PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAKEN YOUR POWER
Steven McDonald is an incredible example of someone who chose not to give
away his power. While working as a New York City police officer in 1986,
Officer McDonald stopped to question some teenagers about some recent bicycle
thefts. One of the fifteen-year-olds in question took out a gun and shot Officer
McDonald in the head and neck. The shots paralyzed him from the neck down.
Miraculously, Officer McDonald survived. He spent eighteen months in the
hospital recuperating and learning how to live as a quadriplegic. At the time of
the accident, he’d only been married eight months, and his wife was six months
pregnant.
Remarkably, Officer McDonald and his wife chose not to focus on all that had
been taken away from them by this teenage boy. Instead, they made a conscious
choice to forgive him. In fact, a few years after his injury, the officer’s assailant
called him from jail to apologize. Officer McDonald not only accepted his
apology, but he also told him that he hoped someday they could travel the
country together sharing their story with the hope they could prevent other acts
of violence. Officer McDonald never got the chance to do that, however, because
three days after his assailant was released from prison, the young man was killed
in a motorcycle accident.
So Officer McDonald set out on his mission to spread his message about
peace and forgiveness on his own. “The only thing worse than a bullet in my
spine would have been to nurture revenge in my heart,” he says in the book Why
Forgive? He may have lost his physical mobility in that attack, but he didn’t give
that violent incident or his assailant the power to ruin his life. He’s now a highly
sought after speaker who teaches love, respect, and forgiveness. Officer
McDonald is an inspirational example of someone who, despite being the victim
of a senseless act of violence, chose not to waste time giving his assailant more
power.
Choosing to forgive someone who has hurt you, either emotionally or
physically, doesn’t mean you have to excuse the other person’s behavior, but
letting go of your anger frees you to focus your energy on a more worthwhile

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cause.
If you’ve spent most of your life feeling like a victim of your circumstances, it
takes hard work to recognize that you have the power to choose your own path
in life. The first step is to develop self-awareness by identifying when you blame
external circumstances and other people for how you think, feel, and behave.
Take a close look at the people you are devoting your time and energy toward.
Are they the people you want to receive it? If not, you may be giving them more
power than you think they deserve.
Each second you spend commiserating with coworkers about how unfair your
boss is, you are giving your boss more power. Every time you tell your friends
how controlling your mother-in-law is, you give her a little more power over
you. Resolve to stop giving people your time and energy if you don’t want them
to play a big role in your life.