Mental health includes emotional and psychological well-being. How often do we talk about our mental health? Or do we talk at all? With how all of our lives have accelerated, and all that we have been through, especially in the past year, mental health takes the front seat on how to get better. Looking after mental health preserves a person’s ability to enjoy life. This involves reaching a balance between your social and personal life. It is that which was never spoken about but needs high recognition in the current days. When it comes to mental health issues, acceptance is importance. Accepting that you have certain unresolved issues, past trauma that you haven’t dealt with, whatever it could be. When you are aware of what you are dealing with, it gets easier. Mental illness is not something that goes away easily. It is not something you will out-grow overnight. It needs to be paid close attention to.
Inner peace is something we all want and here’s one thing I have learnt over the years. You should be optimistic, that’s great, but one should never indulge in forced positivity because it leads to nothing but unresolved pain within oneself. Forced Positivity is the idea of portraying yourself to be all positive and light in every situation and thinking on the brighter side expecting it to help with the pain. And when you are forced into thinking or taking everything positively, you subconsciously tend to project these issues and insecurities on others around you. How do we overcome this?
Firstly, it’s time to break the monotony.
Your monotony could be of different types. It could be of the way you think, your daily routines, the amount of exercise you allow your body, your eating habits, and a lot more. But how long are you going to live this monotonously life? Speaking of monotony, it generally is the main cause of why we lose interest over time. We get too comfortable in what we do and don’t want to get out of our comfort zone to explore and go adventurous. Wake up tomorrow, do something you’ve never done before! It could be an hour of yoga, an early morning walk or even cooking a new dish that you’ve never tried before! Try this and tell me if you don’t feel a change in your mood.
Secondly, you value yourself.
There are times when you lose sight, start seeing yourself in ways others see you, doubt and criticize yourself for being worthless. And you certainly know you are not any of this but you tend to believe what they have to say about you because well, they are the ones who to look at you every day. They really are the ones to look but they are not the ones to live your life every day. Deal with what they said about you, believe in yourself that you are nothing they said. Wake up stronger every day and never let any criticism weigh you down. Criticism could be the point of view another individual creates of you, and you are not responsible for what they think. You are free to do what you want to do and be who you want to be.
Thirdly, you surround yourself with good people.
Dealing with negativity or negative people around us often leads us to nothing but shallowness. Negative thoughts or negative comments are the result of unresolved past issues. Like I said before, it is the projection of their insecurities onto us. And giving way to this is never wise, it slowly creeps on to us turning us into people like them. We could avoid this. When you surround yourself with people who think good of you, who support you with what you do, it gives you a good sense of yourself, keeps you away from all the toxicity and helps you focus on what’s better for you. And people with strong, supportive families and social networks are generally healthier compared to those who lack a support network.
Fourthly, take care of your body.
Personally, I, as a person who’d sit in the couch and get work done or binge on shows for a long time in my life realized how lazy I had become over the days. After a lot of pushing myself, I came to the point where I realized how much good food and good exercise could change a person’s state of mind. The endorphins it released would relieve me of all my pain and offered me the feeling of euphoria. You can get rid of any amount of negativity or whatever it is you feel internally that you find hard to speak about by just taking care of your body. As somebody once said to me, your body is your baby and its your duty to nurture it.
Fifthly, set goals and develop habits.
Decide for yourself what you want to achieve academically, mentally, physically and write down the steps that you need in order to realize these goals. It need not be a big step right when you are starting. It is the little steps to your goals that matter. Instead of over-estimating yourself and disappointing yourself in the end, set small, realistic goals that you think you could achieve and work on it accordingly. And as far as your habits are concerned, you could take on developing a habit every month. If it is working out every day that you want to develop as a habit, go for it. It is said that it takes you an average of 21 days to develop it. And once you have started working out every day for the past month, set yourself up for another habit this month. It could be giving yourself an hour of ‘me time’. So now by the end of two months, you workout regularly and give some time for yourself. And within the span of one year, you would’ve developed as of 12 habits that you would’ve excelled at. It is now a part of your routine and helps you stay afloat of your doings.
Just a little push:
It is hard. I know. Sometimes emotions can get so overwhelming, we tend to lose site of the better-comings. Life could get so bitter that we often find it difficult to open up, trust and it so goes on to an extent of not being able to talk about it to your own family and friends too. We sometimes also feel like we are too much of a burden for a person having to listen to us and are left feeling unheard. But we are strong and if truth be told want to get 10 folds better than where we stand right now.