Skills, experience and hard work. You all are familiar with the holy trinity of success. Throw in a solid network and perseverance, and you have got yourself a solid career plan. And now imagine you added mental health to the mix. What would change? Your career plan would be sustainable and you could fully live your potential without having worrying thoughts like “Well, what if something happens?”, “I hustle, hustle, but what if I don’t manage to follow through?”
This year’s World Mental Health Day is a perfect occasion to make your mental health a priority and start exploring how you can maximize your potential by including mental health in your personal wellbeing strategy.
If you are not convinced yet why mental health matters and need numbers to actually realize what implications mental health issues have, the World mental health report by the World Health Organization (WHO) is an excellent resource. According to the report, 1 in 6 working-age adults live with a mental disorder and 12 billion workdays are lost every year because of depression and anxiety alone. Imagine what would happen if everyone started taking their mental health seriously? Read further to start with yours right now.
First Things First
How you start your day matters. So why not start your day with a gratitude exercise? Imagine you brush your teeth and at the same time you think of three things you are grateful for. Try to be specific and think of three moments you appreciated from the day before, or you think of three people in your life and of the precious memories you have with them.
Why it matters: You need to train your brain to remember the positive things as it tends to favor the negative ones. If the morning doesn’t work for you, feel free to do this exercise when you are in bed and about to fall asleep.
A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body
You’ve heard it before and it’s no news to you, but sometimes we need to hear and read certain pieces of information several times before we actually start putting them into action.
A word of caution, though: Don’t wait too long to put this tip into action as prevention goes a long way. Once it’s too late and you already suffer from a mental health (or physical) disease, it will be much more difficult to incorporate movement and healthy food into your life.
Maybe you like cars and imagine that you go to the gas station and fill your car up with the wrong fuel. You wouldn’t want to do that, right? Use the same metaphor for yourself. Fuel up with nutrient-rich foods that are (ideally) unprocessed and you can actually identify what you eat. It helps to have certain staples in your pantry and always fresh fruit and vegetables in your fridge.
You will see that your body (and mind!) will thank you for it in the short and long run. Speaking of running, don’t despair and think that you need to run marathons or go to the gym 5 times a week to feel fit. A daily brisk 30-minute walk can be a great start. Spending time in nature will also benefit both your physical and mental health.
Make it fun and take a friend with you or listen to your favorite podcast. Combining a new habit with an already existing one is an excellent formula for success. All that matters is that you start putting it into action. Done is better than perfect.
Words Matter
Coming back to your friend and calling them when you go for a walk, the next tip is to be mindful of the words you use when you speak to yourself. Are you always kind and friendly when you go on about everything you did wrong? Or when you look in the mirror, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Personally, I recommend smiling at yourself. Yes, this is not particularly a word, but it will signal to your body and mind that you are well.
The first step to improving the way you speak to yourself, though, is to realize how you actually speak to yourself. As most of this happens on autopilot, a great way to start is to listen to yourself when something bad (or good happens). What thoughts come to your mind?
Take a moment and remember when the last time was that something went wrong. What are the first thoughts that come up? Feel free to also write it down as it’s always a good idea to put your thoughts on paper and carry out a so-called mental download. Once it’s on paper, look at it and double check if this is how you would speak to a good friend. If it isn’t, then add a column and reformulate your sentences/thoughts into how you would speak to a good friend.
Social Factor
Being a good friend is a lovely feeling. You are always there for them when they need you, you go through life together and ideally it’s reciprocal.
When someone starts to feel unwell and has difficulties in expressing what is going on inside of them, they will very likely withdraw from their social relationships as a feeling of shame or insecurity kicks in.
That is why it is so important to fight against this natural instinct and speak up.
As mentioned earlier, it is so much easier to do that if you already have the habit of speaking about your struggles (big or small) with your social circle/friends. Connecting with others makes us feel less lonely and sometimes the problems become less scary.
It goes both ways of course. If someone approaches you and opens up about their issues, be open, listen attentively and don’t judge. You will be surprised how much power silence has and how being there for someone else will make you feel more empowered, too.
Balance Is the Key
From everything that you just read, carefully go through this last tip.
You might be already doing some of the suggestions mentioned above (congratulations, keep on going!). If you aren’t, that’s ok and you are not alone. Start with a small action and incorporate it in your daily routine. Get off one metro stop earlier (every day), have vegetables or fruit with every meal, call a friend once a week, and the list goes on.
Doing everything at once could become overwhelming, and this is definitely not a place where you want to end up. A small action goes a long way and will ultimately lead to great change. You can do it!