Mental barriers are the self-doubts that hold us back from excelling in our lives. The inner barriers are even more difficult to break than exterior ones that continue to deteriorate the quality of our life till death if not nipped in the bud. However, there are tons of methods and strategies like DBT therapy and psychotherapy that can help us break these barriers and regain control of our lives.
These are simple yet powerful actions that help to maintain our composure and take mindful action to live a stable life. This blog post focuses on the major mental barriers to understand their effect on our lives and some strategies to overcome these hurdles. Let’s get started to learn more.
What are Mental Barriers?
Mental barriers are self-limiting thoughts or actions that we assume about ourselves. Such beliefs are the biggest hurdles to our growth and success because they overwhelm our minds with negativity and limit us from moving forward in our lives. These self-limiting thoughts cripple our minds and make us feel that we lack the talent to pursue our life-long dreams.
Mental barriers lead us to negative manifestations and a never-ending fear of the unknown or worse, fear of failure. So, at one time or another, you may find yourself struggling to make it through your life due to mental obstacles like self-doubts. The only way to get back on track is to figure out your mental barriers and eliminate them from your life to get back your emotional freedom.
Exploring the Common Mental Barriers
Mental barriers are of different kinds and affect humans at different intensity levels. So, there is no one-shoe-fits-all situation to mitigate these barriers from our lives. However, knowing about different barriers can help you to understand them in a better way and figure out the ones that are affecting your life.
Here are the common mental barriers that can cost our comfort and mental health.
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Self-Doubts
Negative thoughts and self-doubts are part of everyone’s life. However, they are problematic when people start believing them and start to follow their inner negativity. Self-doubts are the enemies of the success of humans as they make us doubtful of our skills and talents and prevent us from taking action. In reality, they are just false assumptions.
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Fear
Fear is not something we usually consider as a mental barrier. This feeling is often stimulated by our connection with any past incident like a failure. However, it is an issue if we start to weigh our future decisions with past experiences. For instance, failure in a single exam in the past does not mean that it is our destiny. Nevertheless, it is a strong emotion that can direct our life decisions or even hold us back from moving ahead.
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Discomfort
Undoubtedly, we all love to stay in our comfort zones where we can enjoy our lives to their fullest without the fear of the unknown. However, for some people, stepping out of it is a nightmare and forces them to make some terrible decisions that are apparently making them happy by giving them ample space to retreat but in reality, their comfort is the biggest limitation of their personal growth.
Best Ways to Break Down Mental Barriers
Nothing is impossible and breaking mental barriers is no exception here. With time and appropriate strategies, one can easily break them free and continue to live a happy life. Here are some of the best ways to overcome self-limiting beliefs and set out on a successful life journey.
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Psychotherapy
It is a powerful tool that involves professionally treating the issue by discussing it with mental health experts. The professionals suggest different therapies and tactics to overcome the issue. Psychotherapy includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) like Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) which involves the recognition of problematic life patterns and treating them with strategies like opposite action and mindfulness.
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Self-Compassion
Many people need to understand that self-love and care are not selfish. While limiting beliefs like self-doubts can lead us to self-judgment and hate. Here, we need to take care of our inner self with love and kindness. We need to understand our feelings before craving for someone else to do so to get a constructive mindset. Some ways to practice self-compassion are journaling and self-talking.
Final Words
Mental barriers are self-limiting thoughts that hinder our personal growth. The trigger for these self-limiting beliefs can be different for everyone but the first step to eliminate them from your life is to figure out your unique barrier and look for the tactics to treat their root cause. Psychotherapies and practicing self-compassion can help you move past your barriers but an on-time diagnosis is important.
Nevertheless, if you are struggling with your mental barriers and are unable to overcome them on your own, seeking therapy is the best thing to free yourself from these negativities and start living a happy life.
