Mental Fitness Mondays: Rise to Challenge

27th April 2026

Rising to the Challenge Isn’t the Problem

If you’ve ever worked in a union branch, a school, or any people-centred role, you’ll know that “rising to the challenge” isn’t the problem. The problem is too many challenges.There’s the branch secretary juggling members’ cases, campaigns, merchandise orders, meetings, and negotiations. There’s the teacher balancing lesson prep, pastoral care, and new initiatives. There’s the MP or Caseworker facing a constant tide of emails, calls, and community concerns.

They’re all rising to challenges every day; until they can’t.

Rise to Challenge is one of the 16 supporting muscles in Real Clear’s Four Core Muscles model. It’s an important one: it’s about moving towards challenges rather than avoiding them. But, just like a physical muscle, it can get strained or depleted when it’s overused.

Think of it like walking too far on tired calves. I walk a lot, sometimes with my walking pad at home, and I notice when my calves start to ache. It’s my body saying: “Enough, please.” If I want to keep walking healthily, I need to balance things out; stretch, rest, do other forms of exercise.

The same applies to our Rise to Challenge muscle.

When life feels like an uphill climb, the first step is to notice whether you’re overusing this muscle in one direction and underusing it in another. You might be brilliant at taking on new responsibilities but struggle to rise to other kinds of challenges; like saying no, delegating, or asking for help. It can feel harder to push back on an unfair deadline or to trust someone else to do a task, especially if you fear it won’t be done “right”. But these are challenges too.

Here are two simple ideas to consider:

1: Redefine what a challenge is.

You already know you can rise to the tough stuff. Try applying that same skill to gentler, everyday challenges. For instance, the challenge of switching your phone off at a decent hour. Or letting a colleague take the lead on a task. Or asking that member who’d make a great rep if they’d like to step forward.

2: Tend to the muscle.

A depleted muscle needs rest and care, not more strain. That might mean taking a short break, having an honest conversation about support, or simply giving yourself credit for all that effort. Sometimes the challenge is to stop for a while.

This is the mindset shift that can help you stay in healthy challenge, rather than being overwhelmed. Every mental fitness muscle is connected to the others. When I overuse my Rise to Challenge muscle, my Self-Regard muscle often takes a knock; I stop feeling proud of how hard I’m trying and instead focus on what I haven’t done. Perhaps you notice that too. If so, it’s a sign that your system is out of balance.

Ask yourself this:

How healthy is your Rise to Challenge muscle right now? Is it strong and flexible, or tired and sore?

Maybe your next act of courage isn’t to take on more, but to care for yourself differently.

And if you’re surrounded by others who rarely rise to challenges, remember; that might be part of why your load feels so heavy. In a future post, I’ll explore what it looks like to strengthen this muscle across teams and communities, not just within ourselves.

For now, here’s to your balance, your wellbeing, and your continued mental fitness.

Coaching Reflection:

What kind of challenges might you be overusing or avoiding?
What would it look like to give your Rise to Challenge muscle the rest or stretch it needs?