By Jodi Hersey
Special to The Weekly
Dexter native Amy Morin of Enfield has experienced a lot of loss in her 35 years but this licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist and college psychology teacher also has found a way to remain mentally strong and successful in spite of it all. How? By simply making a list and checking it daily. It all began last year when Morin, who lost her mother to a brain aneurysm in 2003 and her husband to a heart attack in 2006, found herself once again on the brink of losing another loved one, this time it was her new husband’s father.
“He was just this crazy, fun loving guy from Minnesota in his 70s who would motorcycle cross country. We were great buddies,” said Morin. “He had prostate cancer and right around the time we knew it was terminal, I started to feel sorry for myself and began thinking, ‘Why does everyone I know in my life have to die?’ When my mom and [late husband] Lincoln died, it was unexpected. This time, I knew it was coming and I had all this dread so I sat down and started writing down these things mentally strong people don’t do, like they don’t feel sorry for themselves.”
When her pen finally stopped, she had compiled a list of 13 things mentally strong people don’t do including they don’t waste energy on things they can’t control, they don’t dwell on the past and they don’t fear alone time. This visual reminder was so helpful for her that she posted it to her blog at lifehack.org.
“Within two or three days of posting it, their website was shut down because they had so much traffic,” Morin explained. “A few days later Forbes.com picked it up and asked if I could come to New York for an interview. Then Fox News called and Rush Limbaugh read it on the air and Glenn Beck read it on his radio show.”
By January of this year, Morin had received numerous requests from publishers to turn her blog into a book. After looking them all over, she teamed up with a literary agent and signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do.”
“It all just happened so fast,” she said. “I talked with my literary agent who said, ‘You’ve got to expand upon it. You’ve said these 13 points and told people what not to do. Now they need to know how not to do it and what to do instead.’”
Morin believes all the hype over her blog is partially due to the fact that no one else is talking about mental strength.
“There’s been a couple of people who’ve talked about mental toughness and the ones I know of are Navy Seals,” Morin said. “There is also a guy who talks about it in terms of money but as far as my agent and I know, I’m the first one in the psychology industry who coined it as mental strength and gave the outline on how to do those things.”
Morin’s book, which will be launched Dec. 23, also provides past and present day examples of Mainers, historical figures and celebrities with mental strength.
“Sarah Robinson had grown up in Dexter and although I never met her, there’s a story [in the book] about her, Sarah’s House [a cancer hospitality house she created] just outside of Bangor, and how she worried about others the whole time she was sick,” she explained.
Morin, who now writes for Forbes.com and About.com, said remaining mentally strong is still something she herself has to be reminded of daily.
“We focus so much on physical health and not enough on mental health and mental strength which will help you in life later on,” said Morin. “Whether life is going well or you’re dealing with problems, being mentally strong is really important.”
“13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” can be found on Amazon.com.