Maintaining your mental health is never an easy task, and I have struggled with it throughout my entire life.
This is why I thought it was important to provide my readers with things I have adopted in my everyday systems to prioritize my mental health.
The earlier you practice healthy habits that will sustain your mental well-being, the better.
Going On Walks
Walking is a great exercise for your mind and body!
In order to stay active in a way that I can maintain, I opted for going on short walks.
The walks have truly blessed my life!
I listen to music, take deep breaths and appreciate the outdoors. They help center me in the mornings and get me excited for the rest of the day.
Scientifically, walking reduces stress and fights off anxiety, which is why it’s a perfect start to any productive day.
My walks have become something I look forward to because they boost me into a better headspace daily.
Creating a Safe Space
I recently graduated college and moved back home with my parents
(not ideal, I know).
However, I did this because I believe within the year, I can become a full-time writer who can pay her bills and then some.
Therefore, I did not want to strain myself with having a lot of financial responsibility until I could surely stand on my own doing what I love. The only drawback I have with moving home is my lack of inspiration while here.
Something about my room and the town my parents live in completely killed any impending creativity.
I decided to make a visual shift . . .
Since moving back home, I completely revamped my room to make me feel inspired, safe, and comfortable. I did this by adding the necessities: anime posters, squishmellow collection, art pieces, Sanrio collectibles, and more.
Oddly, these things put my mind at ease and offer me clarity in a constantly busy life. Carving out a safe space that is curated only for you is one of the most important things on this list. It’s made a big difference to me and my new lifestyle at home.
Everyone deserves an area that is made for just them. Something that excites you when you go home every day.
Setting Small Goals and Achieving Them
Setting and achieving small goals always helps me work my way out of a slump.
The trick here is to set a few extremely manageable goals and accomplish them.
For example, when I’m struggling to do anything, my goals list includes things like making the bed, doing one load of laundry, and showering. These goals are obviously simple, but even the simple ones are extremely difficult to complete when you’re in a mental slump.
It helps the most if you write your tasks down on paper and physically cross them off. Doing this grants me some happiness when my body is desperately craving it.
Bonus points:
If you have a to-do list. I got a cute one from amazon, and it brings me joy to cross things off my never-ending list.
Therapy
Therapy is often overlooked when you are in a healthy place mentally. However, it’s an important tool for maintaining your health. It forces you to give attention to the parts of yourself that you’re suppressing and significantly aids you in your lifetime mental health battle.
My queen Ariana Grande is the first person who finally pushed me toward seeking help for my mental health. She speaks extremely highly about attending therapy every chance she gets. Ms. Grande even tweeted this in response to a fan questioning who her therapist is,
She said that and I could not say it better myself.
Here is a website that can help you get in touch with an in-person, online, or hybrid therapist with various backgrounds, religions, and love interests.
I think it is important to choose a therapist who can truly understand you because that is what they are there for. While searching for the right therapists for myself, I made sure to seek one that is a black woman and bisexual.
I did this because I felt she would be easy to communicate my feelings with and I was correct!
Meditating
When I was a Junior in college (the forsaken 2020 year), my “Communication and Technology” professor had us meditate for 5 minutes alongside him before we started a class for the day.
If I’m being honest, at first, I did not understand the point and did not fully immerse myself into the practice.
However, one day he preached all the benefits that come from mediation (controls anxiety, improves sleep, reduces stress, enhances focus). So I decided actually to try in class, and my mind was blown.
After the meditation, my anxiety lowered a good amount and my goals for the day felt more achievable. Meditating helped me drown out my negative thoughts and focus on my tasks for the day.
Meditation is a different journey for everybody; therefore, I encourage you to research it on your own or follow a guided meditation on Youtube. Here and here are two of my favorite guided meditations.
I also find affirmations to be a powerful part of meditation or just daily mental upkeep. You can use mine if you don’t have a go-to morning affirmation! I got this one from Youtuber’ Haily Gamba. She has a life-changing youtube channel dedicated to personal growth.
Say this out loud
I am grounded, focused, and attentive. I allow myself to focus on one small step at a time. Every small step I take makes a big difference. I am competent, committed, and consistent. I can do anything I set my mind to. I am positive, proactive, and productive. I can accomplish anything I focus on. I approach my tasks with confidence and enthusiasm. I free myself from the paralysis of perfection. I give myself some permission to be imperfect. The best time to start something new is right now. I may stumble but I never stay on the ground. I may make mistakes but I don’t quit. All of my problems have solutions. I can do hard things and I believe in myself.
Skin Care Routine
I know you may be confused about how doing a skincare routine could be helpful to your mental health and to be fair, it does seem odd. However, when my mental health is on the floor, so is my hygiene.
When I’m struggling, I will go days without showering or honestly moving.
But once I bettered my health and became patient enough to take care of my body, my mental well-being skyrocketed.
Doing a skincare routine shows that you are caring for your future self, which is a great thought to have when you’re experiencing depression.
My skincare routine has become longer and more curated to my skin needs throughout the years. My face has never looked better! I hope that everyone can add a skin-loving cycle to their everyday lifestyle.
Focus on Systems Instead of Long-Term Goals
Recently I have been reading a book called “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. I found out about it from Youtuber Mai Pham and it has completely changed my perspective on how to achieve goals. The author speaks on how you can achieve what you want by making small changes daily.
Everything you do in life is part of a system you made, which is why it’s so difficult to make long-term changes. Making productive changes is a lifestyle shift and will be difficult at first.
However,
if you push yourself, your new life will eventually blossom and become second nature.
The best system I ever implemented into my life is a morning routine. I try to do the same thing every morning, and it drastically altered the trajectory of my life.
I used to wake up extremely late, sit on my phone for hours and then try to start my day. Obviously, that is not healthy, nor did it set my mind and body up for success.
The stuff I now do during my morning routine helps me wake up with a purpose and aids in how productive I am throughout the day.
Find your purpose
Finding your purpose is one of the most important steps on this entire list.
You must figure out why you do the things you do. If you understand what grounds you, you’ll know what you need to do and why. For example, I believe my purpose is to help people.
This is why I became a writer and pray that my stories reach the people that need to hear what I’m saying.
Finding my purpose helped me on my mental health journey tremendously! I understand that some stuff is bigger than myself, and I have the power to make a difference.
I’ll never stop trying; it helps force me out of bed when I’m experiencing burnout or depression.
Journal
When I’m struggling mentally, I usually don’t feel like speaking to people about it. This causes me to bottle all my emotions up and eventually, it comes to a head.
A tool to fight against this happening is journaling!
Writing down your feelings and your daily thoughts will help you maintain your mental well-being and ground you. You can always go back to read what you wrote and realize the feelings you once had are valid.
Nobody has got you like you, and journaling will help keep you in check.
Set boundaries
Setting boundaries and sticking to them is one of the most difficult things on this list. I struggled with it because I don’t like telling people I love that I can’t help them.
But, I often put other people’s needs in front of my own, which was not sustainable for my mental health.
Therefore, I’ve created boundaries with my family and friends.
For example, I struggled to say no to hanging out with friends or doing favors when I should have been writing. I found it difficult to explain why I needed to work at certain times because I technically set my schedule and could therefore change it whenever.
However, I desperately needed a routine, and changing my work plans to hang out with friends did not allow me the opportunity to develop one.
I had to talk about it with them and make changes that allowed me to have a better schedule in my life and therefore feel in more control of my life.
Maintaining your mental health is something you have to work on every day. It can be overwhelming at some points but gaining mental stability is priceless.
To grow, you have to do hard things, and I promise you won’t regret it.
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Thank you for sharing your time with me.
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