Happy Mental Health Awareness month to you!
Its a very important month for us to acknowledge and celebrate.
The way we take care of our bodies on the daily, the mind too needs those simple rituals and practices to maintain a healthy mental state.
We deal with our own issues from time to time, and those ofcourse are very specific and varying in degrees of difficulty, depending on what the person is going through.
However, I feel that there are a few things we can do on the daily that can help us establish a baseline for our mental well-being. These rituals or practices can help us build better resilience to the ups and downs in life.
In this post, I'll be delving into a few categories in which we can sort out our actions.
Without much ado, let's get into them:
Simple things we can do for our mental wellbeing:
Structure Structure is a very important concept for our brains. When there's structure and organisation in different areas of our life, it becomes easier for us to distinguish between those aspects and break down our lives into those aspects.
What can we do to maintain structure in our lives?
1. Waking up and sleeping at the same time everyday.
2. Eating our meals at the same time everyday.
3. Having a broad schedule set for the day.
4. Creating reliable systems to plan and organise your life.
Adding structure to our lives in these forms can help our brain dissect things better and anticipate what's about to come. This can help us reduce procrastination and save us from feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
Repetition Repetition adds to consistency and consistency gives way to progress. Whether it is to maintain a certain level (like brushing your teeth to maintain a level of hygiene) or to grow in certain aspects (working out everyday to achieve better fitness), repetition is a very important action in our lives. It lets our brain automate tasks, which our brains love. That can help in easier habit building and can ensure that our habits stick.
What can we do to maintain repetition in our lives?
1. Deciding on things that are imporant to you on a daily basis - journalling, working out, hobbies, etc. These become the non-negotiables in your life.
2. Alloting a certain time of the day to perform those things. 3. Choosing to show up for those things when you're feeling a little sluggish or lazy.
Repetition combined with structure helps us build discipline, which can be a key factor in determining our productivity and trajectory in life.
Flexibility Every coin has two sides and while repetition and structure make up the first side, flexibilty fills up the other. Our brains are prone to getting bored very easily. Routines, if not kept challening and fulfilling enough can over time stop serving us. Our brains love periodical change and flexibility can fulfil that demand.
Balancing flexilbility with repetition and structure can help us stay on a path that feels exciting for us in the long run.
What can we do to maintain flexibilty in our lives?
1. Reflect on your routines every few weeks/ months and make necessary changes. Let them evolve.
2. Keep a few open slots in your schedule to do what you feel at that time.
3. Encourage yourself to be spontaneous every once in a while.
4. Follow your intuition and let yourself rebel against your schedules every now and then.
Boundaries Boundaries, when exercised in the right way can work out in our favour. They are meant to cut off things that don't serve us or can prevent us from working on things that work for our benefit. Boundaries can also help build self-discipline and help us make better choices.
What kind of boundaries can we have in our life?
1. Having a pre-decided screen time and sticking to it.
2. Choosing work over other tempting plans when you have something important going on.
3. Voicing out your needs to spend time by yourself/ in company.
4. Catching ourselves when we give in to our fears and anxieties and saving us from unnecessary negative self-talk.
Support
We are all social creatures and we thrive in our own communities. Our friends, families and the people in our life contribute to our wellbeing tremendously. We all need support in our own ways to grow and maintain a sense of wellbeing. Support helps us realise our potential, makes us more compassionate and reminds us of our worth when we fail to understand it on our own. Support can help you overcome difficult phases in life by sharing your burden with the people around you. It helps us be more empathetic, kind and considerate in life.
In what ways can we find support in our lives?
Putting efforts in the relationships that are important to us.
Reaching out to loved ones when we are going through tough times.
Being there for the people around you during their difficult times.
Being in company of the people who add value to your life.
I hope that sorting out tips into these 5 categories was a helpful way of putting forth some simple ways to take care of our mental wellbeing.