Simon SinekWhat Mentally Strong People Do on Their Worst Days | Psychotherapist Amy Morin
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- September 22, 2026
- Duration
- 1h 1m
- Channel
- Simon Sinek
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Be honest: you've taken a mental health day that made you feel worse. You stayed in bed, you avoided the thing, and by evening it was still waiting for you—with less of the day left to face it. Amy Morin thinks the problem starts with the word. We treat mental health as something you either have or you don't… and framed that way, there's nothing to actually do on a bad day. Her work runs on the opposite premise: mental strength is a practice, and you build it like you'd build anything else. Amy is a psychotherapist, a clinical social worker, and the author of the bestseller _13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do_ and the new _The Mental Strength Playbook._ She became a therapist at 22 and lost her mother at 23. Three years later—to the day—her husband died, and the mental health agency where she worked gave her three days of bereavement leave. She built the practices that became her book in real time, from there. In this conversation, Amy walks through exactly what she did to get mentally fit. Not as theory, but as the small, unglamorous things that got her out of bed. And I press her on the question nobody in her field says out loud: whether an industry built to help us has any incentive to finish the job. *In this episode you'll learn:* ➡️ Why the mental health day you take to feel better isn’t helping ➡️ How to tell whether to solve the problem or solve the feeling (most of us pick wrong) ➡️ The 15-minute daily exercise Amy's clients say lifts the weight of the world ➡️ Why "I am anxious" and "I have anxiety sometimes" build two different lives ➡️ How to compromise with yourself on a bad day instead of going all-or-nothing ➡️ Why "I'm just staying busy" is avoidance we've learned to compliment ➡️ What playing the victim actually gives you (+ why it's so hard to give up) ➡️ Simon's rule for hard days: no crying alone Amy's argument is a hopeful one: the feeling follows the action. Do one small, ordinary thing today, and you've already started. *This… is A Bit of Optimism.* + + + This episode is brought to you by SAP. Bring it with SAP GROW. The AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Learn more at https://SAP.com/GROW + + + If you’d like to buy Amy’s new book, _The Mental Strength Playbook,_ head to: https://amymorinlcsw.com/books/ + + + *Chapters* 00:00:00 The Shy Girl Who Found Her Voice Through Tragedy 00:02:43 Mental Fitness vs Mental Health: Why Words Matter 00:06:26 The Depression Patient Who Actually Got Better 00:09:10 Why Mental Health Days Can Make You Feel Worse 00:17:17 The Two Months That Changed Everything 00:21:37 How to Find Hope When Life Feels Hopeless 00:28:45 The Problem We're Solving vs The Feeling We're Solving 00:35:20 The Comeback Story: Choosing How Tragedy Shapes You 00:39:42 Playing the Victim Feels Good, and That's the Problem 00:45:55 Breaking Patterns: From Narcissistic Exes to Self-Accountability 00:50:30 I Am vs I Have: The Language That Changes Everything 00:53:07 The Therapist's Bad Habit: Why Even Experts Struggle 00:54:37 Schedule Your Worry: The 15-Minute Exercise That Lifts Weight Off Your Shoulders 00:59:09 No Crying Alone: The Honor of Sitting in the Mud With Someone + + + Simon is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do. Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including _Start With Why,_ _Leaders Eat Last,_ _Together is Better,_ and _The Infinite Game._ + + + Website: http://simonsinek.com/ Leaderful: https://simonsinek.com/leaderful Podcast: http://apple.co/simonsinek Instagram: https://instagram.com/simonsinek/ Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/simonsinek/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonsinek Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simonsinek + + + #SimonSinek
SPEAKERS
Simon Sinek
hostAuthor and leadership thinker; host of the podcast A Bit of Optimism.
Amy Morin
guestPsychotherapist and author known for work on mental strength and resilience.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Simon Sinek, featuring Simon Sinek and Amy Morin, What Mentally Strong People Do on Their Worst Days | Psychotherapist Amy Morin explores mental fitness over labels: practical tools for hardest emotional days Amy Morin and Simon Sinek argue that “mental fitness” is a more useful concept than “mental health” because it frames wellbeing as an ongoing practice rather than a binary status.
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