How My 8-Year-Old Son Showed Me the True Meaning of Being Mentally Strong
When you have a goal to achieve, nothing should stop you.
I frequently say that mindset makes all the difference in life between those who succeed and those who do not. Of course, I'm not the only one who says this. Many of us believe that to succeed, you must first believe that you can do it.
You must also be willing to endure anything to reach the summit you wish to climb. This may seem like an exaggeration, but it's the only way to be sure you'll succeed in life.
The only adjustment variable, but a big one I grant you, is when your big success will come. Nevertheless, if you are mentally strong, and you are ready to give everything to reach your goals, I am sure that you will succeed sooner or later.
Based on this constant, many people wonder what it means to be mentally strong.
Everything starts in the mountains with a very difficult hike that my son absolutely wanted to do with me
A few days ago, I was on vacation with my children in the mountains. We were staying in a hotel at an altitude of 1,850 meters. One evening, I told my wife that the next day I was going to go for a hike that would take me to the highest peak of the mountain range we were in.
This summit has an altitude of 3,100 meters and it is something like 7 kilometers to reach it by the fastest but also the steepest road.
For those who have a little trouble with math, this means that the road rises 1,250 meters in 7 kilometers. This represents an average gradient of 17.8% over the entire hike. The whole thing with portions happily exceeding 20% to reach 25% on passages filled with stones.
In short, it was a nice hike for those who like to make consistent physical efforts. This was my case.
Hearing me discuss my project with my wife, my 8 years old son came to see me tell me that he absolutely wanted to come with me on this hike. At first, I was reluctant because of the difficulty. I told him that it was better that he didn't come. I would do an easier one with him the next day.
I don't know if it was hearing the word easy that bothered him, but my son then became even more stubborn and told me that he felt perfectly capable of doing this hike with me.
After hesitating, I figured it was a good opportunity to judge my 8 years old's mindset. So I agree to let him come with me. Worst case scenario, we would have turned back if it got too difficult, and I would have done it another time without him.
Instead of following my pace, my son moved at his own pace towards his goal
As we walked the course, I quickly realized that I was going too fast for my son. This is normal. He is only 8 years old after all. Nonetheless, I kept going at a steady pace waiting for him to change directions on the hill we were climbing.
I quickly noticed something remarkable about my son. Rather than trying to match my pace, he realized that he had to move at his own pace without regard to me if he wanted to reach his goal.
He instinctively chose not to compare himself and instead moved towards his goal at his own pace. It's a great lesson for all of us to learn in our daily lives. The closer we got to the summit, the more I sensed that he would need to take long breaks.
So I asked him several times if he wanted us to stop and turn around. Of course, that was out of the question for him. He never complained and kept going at his own pace.
The more the summit was in sight, the more my son redoubled his efforts. On the last few switchbacks, I even saw him not take a break several times and choose to go ahead of me when I was waiting for him to take a break. He wanted to show me that he could do it.
Reaching the 3,100-meter summit was a given in his mind. Failing was not an option.
It's pretty amazing what an 8-year-old is capable of accomplishing when he has a goal in mind. Of course, it takes a lot of mental strength to do that. The slope was indeed well over 20% on many occasions, and with the altitude, the physical and muscular effort became more delicate.
My son finally reached the summit with me at 3,100 meters.
I saw him feel a great sense of pride, but not an excessive burst of joy. Amazed, I said to him:
“You can be really proud of yourself and appreciate this great win.”
My son then replied:
“I knew I would reach the top. I'm not surprised. I can do even better.”
His reaction made me even prouder in that for him, this 3,100-meter summit was nothing more than an intermediate victory towards other goals he will set for himself.
Seeing this determination in my son gave me the perfect example of what a strong mind can do
What he showed me that day was the perfect demonstration of someone who is mentally strong. I'm not just saying that because he's my son. My point is much more general.
When faced with an obstacle, he never complained or became discouraged. He saved all his strength to overcome it. He then chose to go at his own pace without comparing himself to someone who was going faster than him. His goal was to succeed without trying to beat another person.
That's what being mentally strong means to me. To be able to push yourself to achieve the goals you set for yourself without ever complaining. Some may ask me what would have happened if my son had failed to reach the top that day. Knowing him, the answer is quite simple: he would have absolutely wished we had held him back the next day, and so on, until the day he reached his peak.
Resilience in the face of failure is obviously a characteristic of all those who are mentally strong. This will remain a great memory for me and something my son and I will definitely talk about in the future.