13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do

With one very small edit (for clarity), below are the chapter headings for 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. Though not an overtly Christian book, the author does speak of how her faith in God helped her through the sudden loss of her mother and then, soon after, her 27-year-old husband.

Read it through the lens of Scripture to weed out anything contrary to Scripture, to identify principles and guidance that are consistent with Scripture (see chapter headings below), and to have these principles explained in more detail.

It’s on that latter point that I found the book most helpful. Many of these 13 strategies are biblical. But the Bible doesn’t give us all the detail about how to argue ourselves out of self-pity, how to set boundaries, etc. That’s where this book excels. Read it with Biblical spectacles, add spiritual analysis, spiritual motivation, and spiritual empowerment, and you have a God-designed package that combines the best of God’s special grace with the best of His common grace. As Jay Adams wrote (in a paragraph that I wish was more consistently applied in the rest of his writing):

I do not wish to disregard science, but rather I welcome it as a useful adjunct for the purposes of illustrating, filling in generalizations with specifics, and challenging wrong human interpretations of Scripture, thereby forcing the student to restudy the Scriptures (Competent to Counsel, 1970, xxi).

It’s not a book just for those who are feeling mentally weak; it’s also for those who want to improve their mental strength and to prepare for times when their resilience will be sorely tested. It will also help you minister to people who are struggling in these areas. Here are the chapter headings:

1. They don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves.

2. They don’t allow everyone else to set their boundaries and expectations.

3. They don’t shy away from change.

4. They don’t focus on things they can’t control.

5. They don’t worry about pleasing everyone.

6. They don’t fear taking calculated risks.

7. They don’t dwell on the past.

8. They don’t make the same mistakes over and over.

9. They don’t resent other people’s success.

10. They don’t give up after the first failure.

11. They don’t fear alone time.

12. They don’t feel the world owes them anything.

13. They don’t expect immediate results.

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin.