Live Long and Master Aging podcast

Episode

75

Mental strength to master aging

Amy Morin: Author, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. She has a unique perspective on the struggles and life-stopping events that can derail even those of us who are committed to living the best life possible. Her mother passed away from a brain aneurysm when Amy was 23. Three years on her 26-year-old husband died of a heart attack and a few years later, her father-in-law lost his battle with cancer. It was a personal journey that saw Amy write a letter to herself, entitled 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. It went viral and led to Amy writing a book, with the same title. Five years later she is still writing and talking about what makes people mentally strong. In this interview with Peter Bowes, recorded at the annual USC Body Computing Conference in Los Angeles, Amy explains why her observations about mental strength are relevant to the aging process; why we should not look back or worry about what others think as we grow older – and why we should set limits on our daily consumption of news to avoid being consumed by media overload.

Published on: 3 Oct 2018 @ 14:58 PST


NOTES AND QUOTES


This is the first in a series of interviews recorded at the USC Body Computing Conference.  Find out more about the event here and the USC Center for Body Computing here.

“Study after shows that having meaning and purpose in your life makes you live longer and purpose doesn’t have to be that going to change the world it might be something like taking care of a plant or that you were just going to brighten somebody else’s day.”
In this interview we discover:
  • How Amy started to think about mental strength at one of the lowest points in her life.
  • What people struggling with adversity do to continue living a normal life, even though their hearts are broken.
  • Why Amy wrote a list of the things that drain her of mental strength.
  • What happened when she put the list online.
  • How not to sit around and host a pity party.
“If I was happy all the time I wouldn’t appreciate being happy.  But now that I know – I’ve been in the depths of despair – when I’m happy, gosh it feels way better than it ever did before.”
  • Why we should not worry about pleasing everyone.
  • Why mentally strong people don’t expect immediate results.
  • How people with mental strength can age better.
“It’s great to have good habits in life but what are the bad habits?  Because sometimes you’re only as good as your worst habit.”
  • “I’m a fan of working smarter not just harder.”
  • Why social media can make us feel inadequate and how to rise above it.
  • How media overload can affect our ability to stay mentally healthy.
“You have to set some limits.  Decide you aren’t going to be so consumed by the news.”
  • Why mentally strong people don’t try to avoid change.
  • What it takes to embrace change in your life.
  • How we can adapt to new things better than we realize.

“It’s not about how many years you live but have much life you put into those years.”

Amy’s other books:

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