mentalizar

to mentally prepare

verb men-tah-lee-SAHR Rare

Also means

to raise awareness

Usage Note

Mentalizar means to psychologically prepare oneself or someone else to accept a situation. Reflexively, mentalizarse is very common in sports and self-help contexts: tienes que mentalizarte de que será difícil ('you need to get your head around how hard it will be'). It can also mean to make someone aware of a social issue: mentalizar a la sociedad sobre el reciclaje.

Examples

"Hay que mentalizarse de que el camino es largo."

Natural Translation

You have to mentally prepare yourself for the long road ahead.

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