Building Mental Health Through Perseverance
While reading Real Artists Don’t Starve, by Jeff Goins, I saw a connection between the work of artists and the work of building mental health through perseverance. Says Goins,
“In every failure and disappointment, there is an opportunity to give in to frustration or see such shortcomings as practice. These failures teach us; they are our ‘training camps.’”
He’s speaking to artists.
Moreover, he could just as easily be speaking to anyone learning how to manage fear, regulate emotions, or build mental resilience.
In addition, the truth is this:
Developing mental health skills is not clean.
It is not linear.
And it is rarely comfortable.
It looks much more like rehearsal than arrival.
Failure Is Part of Learning Emotional Regulation
When we talk about building resilience or managing anxiety, we often imagine progress as steady improvement.
But neuroscience tells us something different.
The brain learns through repetition — especially repetition after mistakes.
When you:
- Lose your temper
- Avoid something important
- Freeze in a difficult moment
- Spiral into self-doubt
You are not disqualified from growth.
You are in training.
Every emotional setback is information. It shows you:
- Where your nervous system activates
- What triggers overwhelm
- How your body responds to perceived threat
This is data. Not defeat.
Goins calls these moments “training camps.” In mental health terms, they are exposure, feedback, and refinement.
Building Mental Health Through Perseverance
Goins writes:
“It’s a commitment to persevere, believing one setback will not defeat you.”
This mirrors what psychologists call resilience — the ability to recover after stress or adversity.
Resilience is not the absence of struggle.
It is the decision to continue practicing after struggle.
When learning how to:
- Manage fear
- Reduce avoidance
- Calm the nervous system
- Take brave steps despite anxiety
You will have days that feel like regression.
That doesn’t mean you are failing.
It means you are strengthening neural pathways through repetition.
The brain rewires through practice — not perfection.
Setbacks Are Necessary Steps on the Road to Growth
Goins writes:
“You can’t avoid these moments; they are necessary steps on the road to greatness.”
In the world of art, that means bad drafts, awkward performances, rejection.
In the world of mental health skill-building, it means:
- Trying to breathe through anxiety and still feeling overwhelmed
- Attempting a difficult conversation and stumbling over words
- Showing up with courage and wishing you had said more
- Taking one brave step — and needing to rest afterward
Growth requires exposure to discomfort.
Avoidance keeps fear large.
Practice keeps fear manageable.
Each attempt is rehearsal for the next moment.
Stop Waiting to “Feel Ready”
Goins ends with this powerful call:
“To do the work of a professional, you have to stop waiting to be seen and start sharing your work now.”
This applies directly to emotional growth.
Many people wait to:
- Feel confident before trying
- Feel calm before speaking
- Feel certain before acting
But confidence grows from action — not the other way around.
Emotional regulation skills develop through use.
You don’t wait until fear disappears.
You practice working with it.
That is how fear becomes smaller.
Mental Health Skills Are Built Through Repetition
Artists rehearse.
Athletes train.
Musicians practice scales.
Building mental health through perseverance takes repetition. Why do we expect emotional strength to arrive without practicing it ?
Building mental health skills requires:
- Showing up after a hard day
- Trying again after avoidance
- Breathing slowly when your heart is racing
- Taking one small brave step
Some days will feel messy.
Some days will feel like progress.
Both are practice.
Failure Is Not an Endpoint — It’s Information
Goins reframes failure as preparation for “the next show, the next book, the next chance to do it better.”
In emotional growth, there is always a next moment.
The next conversation.
The next opportunity.
The next doorway.
If today didn’t go as planned, that was rehearsal.
If fear won this round, you gather data and try again.
Resilience is built in the return.
The Sooner You Start, The Stronger You Become
There is no perfect time to begin building emotional resilience.
The earlier you practice:
- Naming fear
- Regulating breath
- Taking small risks
- Responding instead of reacting
The more prepared you become for higher-stakes moments later.
Mental strength is not inherited.
It is practiced.
Keep Trying
Learning how to manage fear, anxiety, avoidance, or emotional overwhelm is not about eliminating struggle.
It is about committing to the process.
Just as artists refine their craft through repetition, we refine our emotional skills through lived experience.
Today might not have gone perfectly.
But today was practice.
And practice is how strength is built.
Ask yourself these questions to get you building mental health through perseverance –
- How do you build mental resilience?
- Why is failure important for growth?
- How do you stop giving up after setbacks?