Caring for your mental health can be an uphill battle at times, but it doesn’t always have to be. Sure, there will be bad days or even weeks, but that doesn’t mean things will never get better. Caring for your mental health is all about what you do when those times come along and you’re overwhelmed with unhappiness. There are lots of ways to care for your mental health, but try starting out with these two suggestions.
Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle: Mental Health Edition
Stay Busy With Activities
One of the more beneficial things you can do when your mental health is in the dumps is to distract yourself by staying busy. This means finding things that you like to do that will keep your mind off whatever it is that’s stressing you out. You can do this in a bunch of different ways. Maybe you’re a more active person and exercise is your way to let off steam. Others may prefer a more relaxed activity, like gardening for example. Gardening and landscaping are great ways to care for your mental health when you’re stressed. Not only can it help to relieve some of the tension you may be feeling, but landscaping can also add as much as 14% to the resale value of your home.
However, there are other activities you can do as well. What you do to distract yourself will depend on what it is that you enjoy doing. Maybe this means listening to music or even going to a show. Perhaps your brain is clearest when you’re creating. This could mean playing your own music, writing your own stories, or creating your own arts and crafts. Many also enjoy to knit or crochet. Sometimes trying something new is the best way to really distract yourself. It will always be beneficial to have more options on your strategy list that you can do when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Treat Yourself
Another big part of caring for your mental health is treating yourself when necessary. You don’t want to go overboard with this, but when you really are in need of a pick-me-up, treating yourself can be the perfect option. For example, 88% of women say their hair has a direct effect on their confidence. Let’s say you’re feeling super overwhelmed about your appearance. This could be the perfect time to treat yourself to a salon day. If something as simple as a trip to the hairdresser can improve your well-being for a while, it may very well be worth it. We all need to be pampered every now and then, and if you’re feeling down about yourself, you might as well do what you can to change that.
Similarly, a recent survey showed 80% of Americans aged 18 to 49 want whiter teeth. So buy some whitening strips! Or alter your morning and nighttime routine a bit so that you can spend more time flossing and brushing your teeth. Sometimes caring for yourself and your mental health is simply doing the things necessary to get yourself to a point where you’ll feel better. Caring for your mental health is all about the actions you take to keep your brain positive more often than not.
Sometimes though, treating yourself isn’t about solving anything. Sometimes it’s simply because you had a rough day at work, made it through the week, and you deserve an evening of nice dining where you’re not responsible to cook or clean. Maybe it means you buy that thing you’ve been eyeing for a while now but telling yourself you can’t afford. However, you should remember that the treat should be relative to the stress you’re under. If you’re treating yourself too frequently and too luxuriously, this strategy can lose its effectiveness and become an issue of itself altogether.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to caring for yourself is figuring out what you enjoy and doing those things. It also means learning your limits for when stress is too much and avoiding situations that trigger you. Your mental health is important, so be sure to treat it as such.
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