The Secret to Strong Mental Health (Part 2)

Based on Michael Alexiuk’s Power Therapy

In the last post, I said it like it is:

If you want strong mental health, stop coping. Start doing hard things that matter.

Michael Alexiuk’s Power Therapy lays out the core formula: Difficult + Relevant + Achievable = Personal Power.

But how do you actually find and build those kinds of goals? Here’s your guide.

🔥 Step 1: Choose Something That Scares You a Little

Let’s be clear: this is not about self-torture. It’s about friction. If your goal doesn’t make your stomach flip just a little, it’s not difficult enough to generate growth.

Ask yourself:

• What have I been avoiding that I know I need to do?

• What would make me proud if I pulled it off—because I didn’t think I could?

Examples:

• “Speak at a recovery group.”

• “Apply for a job that intimidates me.”

• “Tell my partner the truth about something I’ve been hiding.”

This isn’t about comfort. It’s about transformation.

🎯 Step 2: Make It Relevant to You, Not What You Think You Should Want

A goal that doesn’t mean anything to you personally won’t build power. Forget what your therapist, your parents, or society says you should do.

Ask yourself:

• Who am I trying to become?

• What matters to me, not to my diagnosis or label?

The more personal, the more powerful. This isn’t about proving anything to the world. It’s about proving something to yourself.

🧱 Step 3: Make Sure It’s Achievable (But Not Easy)

This is where people get stuck. You want something challenging, but not impossible. You need to believe—even just 51%—that if you give it your all, you can do it.

Ask yourself:

• “If I broke this down into pieces, could I do the first one?”

• “Have I done anything this hard before?”

• “What would I need to make it doable?”

If it feels like climbing a mountain, good. Just make sure you’ve got shoes and a path.

🔄 Step 4: Take the First Step Immediately

Momentum is oxygen. If you wait for the perfect moment, you’ll stall out. Pick one small step that takes less than 15 minutes and do it now.

Examples:

• Write the first sentence of that email.

• Google a local therapist.

• Say, “Can we talk later today?” to the person you’ve been avoiding.

That first step isn’t just action. It’s proof to your brain: I move. I choose. I act.

📈 Step 5: Track the Wins (Especially the Emotional Ones)

Power isn’t just in the outcome. It’s in what you become by pushing through.

Track:

• What you did

• What you felt

• What it taught you

The more evidence you collect, the more real your personal power becomes. This is how you stop feeling broken. This is how you start seeing yourself as capable again.

🧠 Bonus Tip: Expect Resistance (Do It Anyway)

Your inner critic is going to scream. Your fear will kick. That’s the sign you’re doing it right.

Power Therapy doesn’t teach you how to avoid fear—it teaches you how to use it as a compass.

If it’s hard, it matters. If it matters, it heals. If it heals, it builds power.

Final Word:

Stop waiting for mental health to show up like a package in the mail. You build it—brick by brick—with every hard, relevant, achievable goal you finish.

And when you do that? You stop being someone who’s “in recovery.”You become someone who’s in charge.