How Doing Hard Things Builds Mental Health and Resilience

Challenging physical training builds self-efficacy, resilience, and a stronger belief in your capabilities

For Mental Illness Awareness Week and World Mental Health Day in 2026, let’s look at an often-overlooked connection between physical training and positive mental health: what happens when we deliberately embrace discomfort.

I didn't start Krav Maga because I was confident or mentally tough—it was the opposite. I struggled with resilience, but I believed that if I deliberately placed myself in uncomfortable situations and learned not to retreat, I would grow.

In my early training, I was profoundly outside my comfort zone. I coped by laughing almost constantly, getting frustrated, or feeling overwhelmed while learning unfamiliar movements under pressure. But I kept showing up. Gradually, unfamiliar skills became familiar. I learned I could be uncomfortable and still function—and that struggle wasn't evidence of incapability.

Then something unexpected happened: the confidence I built on the mat didn't stay on the mat. I became more willing to speak up, tackle hard tasks, and trust myself. Training wasn't just teaching self-defence; it was changing the evidence I had about who I was.

How Mastery Experiences Build Self-Efficacy

Psychologists call this process developing self-efficacy—the grounded belief in our ability to take action and handle challenges based on past evidence.

Unlike broad confidence ("I think I can do this"), self-efficacy is rooted in experience ("I've handled difficult things before and adapted"). According to the American Psychological Association, one of the primary ways we build self-efficacy is through mastery experiences: 

You attempt something difficult, struggle, adjust, and eventually succeed. The next time you face a hard situation—physical or otherwise—you aren't starting from scratch. Part of you remembers:

I’ve handled hard things before.

Confidence is the Result, Not the Starting Point

We often assume we need confidence before attempting difficult things. But we frequently have the sequence backwards:

1. We attempt something difficult.

2. We struggle and gradually develop competence.

3. Confidence emerges from the experience.

   
   

Hardship alone doesn't build strength. The real magic lies in the combination of challenge, adaptation, and mastery—a task difficult enough that you have to work for it, but manageable enough that you can improve. Over time, you build an unshakable core belief: Even if I don't know how to do something yet, I can learn.

Building Resilience, Agency, and Stress Control

Skill-based physical training reinforces mental health across three key areas:

• Resilience: Resilience isn't being unaffected by stress; it's the ability to adapt and recover. Making a mistake under pressure, adjusting, and trying again teaches us that discomfort passes and setbacks can be recovered from.

  
  

• Agency: A woman who took self-defence after experiencing domestic violence once shared how transformative it was to experience what she could do—move, use her voice, resist, and act. Self-defence provides a tangible experience of agency: replacing "I don't know what to do" with "I have options".

  
  

• Functioning Under Stress: Good training progressively introduces stress, resistance, and decision-making. You learn that adrenaline and elevated heart rates don't have to freeze you—you can feel stressed and still function.

  
  

The Physical Activity and Mental Health Connection

Physical activity is well-known for reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, but skill-based training offers something additional: repeated opportunities to practice capability.

Depression, anxiety, and trauma are not failures of mental toughness, and physical training is not a replacement for professional mental health care. However, it provides a powerful environment to accumulate proof of your own resilience.

Every difficult training session gives you another piece of evidence: I can learn. I can adapt. I can be uncomfortable without being incapable.

Ready to Challenge Yourself?

If you want to build your capability, confidence, and resilience, consider taking up an activity that challenges your mind as much as your body—whether that’s climbing, martial arts, or a new complex physical skill.

Self-defence challenges you physically and mentally, gives you real problems to solve under pressure, and equips you with a practical life skill.

Sometimes, "I can handle this" isn't something you need to repeat until you believe it. Sometimes you just need experiences that prove it's true.

Come to TalonPoint and start building your confidence and experience with us today.

Additional support in Edmonton or Alberta can be accessed at the numbers below:

CMHA Edmonton Distress Line: Call 780-482-HELP (4357). This is a free, confidential, and judgment-free local line managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association – Edmonton Region

Provincial Mental Health Help Line: Call 1-877-303-2642 (or dial 811 to connect via Health Link). This is a confidential, province-wide multi-disciplinary service offering crisis support and resource navigation.