Mental health is hugely important in anyone’s life, and if you are trying to make sure that you are looking after your own mental health this year, there are so many angles that you might need to approach this from. The truth is that it is always something you can improve more and more, and it’s about making sure you are taking responsibility for it and trying to work with it in the best way possible.
In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the major things you can do to improve your mental health considerably this year. All of the following is going to be well worth thinking about, and you should find that you are really going to notice a huge difference all in all. Let’s take a look at what this might involve.
Pay More Attention To Your Mind
In simple terms, one of the main things you might want to do here is to ensure you are paying more attention to your mind in a day to day sense. In other words, try to be more mindful – but if mindfulness as a term brings up problematic images for you, don’t think of it as anything spiritual or religious. It really does just mean paying attention to what is going on in your experience as well as you can. If you can do that, you are soon going to have much more of an ability to take care of your mental health, because you will be in a much better place and you’ll know when things are not quite how you want them to be.
So consider setting aside a short period of time each day to be mindful. Before you know it, this mindfulness will be a moment to moment ability that you do automatically, and it will mean you can spot issues much earlier on and have a much better sense of what kinds of antidotes you might need to apply to fix or overcome or ease those issues.
Know What Works For You
Your mental health is your own, and it’s always going to be unique from other people’s. As such, you should make sure that you are thinking about what you can do to get to know it as well as possible. You have to figure out what it is that really works for you, and what it is that you might need to do differently, otherwise you might struggle to really make this work. It’s the case, for instance, that some people respond well to certain treatments and others respond poorly, so that is the kind of thing that you need to be aware of here.
For example, some people report that a substance like marijuana makes their mental health worse. And for other people, it can ease symptoms of anxiety or depression. Of course there are also issues of legality, but where marijuana is legal and where it is useful for you personally, that is going to be something to consider. If it isn’t, then you will want to keep away from it.
If you are keen to find out what works for you, that’s one of the best ways to ensure that you are actually able to take care of your own mind much more effectively and thoroughly.
Lower The Bar
Part of the issue around mental health is often that people are expecting miracles. Improving your mental health doesn’t mean that you need to become a zen monk overnight, and it’s not about having any superpowers. Sometimes just getting out of bed can be a win, especially if you have been in the depths of depression. Make sure you are pacing yourself in the effort to improve your mental health, as this is going to be a much better approach that is really going to make a world of difference. You are not competing with anyone else, it’s just about your own mind and how to improve it, little by little, each day.
Move Around A Little
Moving your body is huge for your mental health. It really can’t be overstated how powerful this can be. While it’s not healthy to obsess over your exercise regime, it is definitely beneficial to make sure that you are moving around a little. This is the kind of thing that is going to help you to have a much clearer mind and to feel better in yourself generally, so it’s definitely worth thinking about.
So consider setting aside a short period of time each day to be mindful. Before you know it, this mindfulness will be a moment to moment ability that you do automatically, and it will mean you can spot issues much earlier on and have a much better sense of what kinds of antidotes you might need to apply to fix or overcome or ease those issues.
