Take Care of Your Mental Health

Photo by Riccardo 

Your priorities must include taking care of your mental health.  Ensuring that you are doing what is right for your mental health, however, is not always easy. 

There are a few things you consciously can do to ensure that you are making your mental health a priority.  Here are some suggestions you might consider to protect your mental health.

Unbottling Your Emotions

If you tend to keep your emotions bottled up, you are doing yourself a disservice.  By taking the time to communicate your emotions to others, you will greatly enhance your peace of mind

Try to find someone that you can trust and open up about the feelings you are having about issues in your life.  Talk to someone about the problems you are facing. 

If you cannot find anyone that you trust, you can find a professional to assist you.  Whichever method you choose to unbottle your feelings and face them is the only way to heal from any hurt they are causing.  If you continue to hold in your emotions, it is like holding a beach ball under water.  It can take tremendous psychological energy to hold emotions inward, which may spill out in unintended ways.

Establish Your Boundaries

A great way to secure your mental health is to create boundaries for yourself.  If you are the type of person that likes to people please, then not having healthy boundaries is going to be damaging to your mental health. 

You must be comfortable saying no whenever something will not serve you.  This is not to say that you should not go out of your way to help people, if you can. 

However, if something is going to severely impact you in a negative way, it is best to stand your ground and say no.  I simply say, “I have another commitment.”  That commitment can be to re-energizing myself, or to conserving my energy.  We do not owe others an explanation when we say no.

Consider Your Physical Health

Your physical health will have a direct impact on your mental health as well.  Once you understand how closely intertwined they are you can see why it becomes necessary for you to have an exercise routine as part of your daily life

Exercise does not necessarily mean you have to go to the gym.  It can mean going for a daily walk.  It could also mean taking a hike.  Having an exercise partner may help you to do more exercise.  It helps me.

When you exercise, you release endorphins into the body that send messages to your brain.  This allows you to experience more calm feelings and joy.  This calmness that you experience will directly impact your mental health.

Ask for Help

There are times when, no matter how much you try to maintain your mental health, it continues to deteriorate.  When this happens do not be afraid to get mental health counseling.  Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.  You need not do this alone.

There are plenty of professionals out there who are willing to assist you to improve your mental health.  Interview a few or get recommendations from others to ensure you find the best fit for you and your needs.

Take Care of You

Taking care of yourself includes paying attention to your mental health.  Become attuned to your feelings and do not deny them.  They can be a good indicator of when your mental health is deteriorating and when it is time to nurture yourself.  Attending to your mental health is an essential part of self-care and is, perhaps, more important than it ever has been, with so much uncertainty in the world.

Maria Olsen