You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.
-Pema Chödrön
It can be helpful to do some mindset work to increase your postpartum mental wellness. Psychologist Carol Dweck coined the terms: Fixed and growth mindset. So what are these?
Fixed mindset traits may include:
- Black and white thinking patterns
- Negative thoughts
- Innate traits you’re born with (you’re either born smart or born dumb)
- Ignoring criticism and feedback from others
- Being externally motivated
- Feeling like a failure when life doesn’t go your way
- Feeling limited
- Avoiding challenges
- Pessimism
- Being performance-based
Growth mindset traits may include:
- Flexible thinking patterns
- Positive thoughts
- Being effort based
- Accepting of criticism and feedback from others as a way to improve yourself
- Being internally motivated
- Learning from your own failures as well as other people’s failures
- Feeling free to try new things
- Embracing challenges
- Perseverance
- Optimism
So, fixed and growth mindsets are opposite thinking patterns, and we all tend to have some features of each mindset.
Here are some questions to reflect on: Do you tend to be more fixed minded or growth-minded? What impact has this mindset had on your postpartum experience thus far? What are some ways you can add more growth mindset characteristics to your everyday life?
Finally, don’t forget how helpful self-care can be in this area as well. Having time to reflect can be very important as you’re figuring out what needs to happen to change your mindset from fixed to growth. Here are some ideas:
- Process with a therapist
- Listen to your favorite music
- Take a bath
- Journal
- Do some yoga stretches
- Go for a walk
- Meditate
- Connect with loved ones
Which ones would be most helpful to you moving forward?
