Nine Self-Care Tips For Boosting Your Mental Health

Taking Care of You First

Mental health is just as important as physical health. Yet, so many of us spend our days caring for our physical needs and taking care of others while failing to take the necessary steps to maintain our thoughts and emotions. If you want to live a truly fulfilling and healthy life, you must care for your mental health. Here are eight tips for making self-care a part of your routine. 

Clear the Clutter 

There’s something about decluttering your home that brings peace of mind. Take a day or two to go through all your belongings, decide what to keep and discard, and deep clean your home room by room. You’ll feel less stressed and be able to think more clearly. Plus, a thorough cleaning-and-decluttering session makes it easier for you to maintain your home in the future. 

Get to Bed

Out of all the things busy people sacrifice, sleep is often at the top of the list. It doesn’t matter if you have elite physical fitness, eat perfectly, and are citizen of the year in your hometown — if you don’t get enough sleep, your mind won’t be able to adequately process the events of the day and recharge for the next day. So, remember to prioritize rest. 

Exercise Regularly

Yes, exercise really is all it’s made out to be. Not only are there the well-known physical benefits, but it’s also vital for your mental health. Carrying out a regular fitness routine is known to significantly reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It can also lead to better sleep, sharper focus, and improved self-esteem. Exercise comes in many forms, so you should be able to find a routine that works for you with a little trial and error.

Feed Yourself the Good Stuff

Yes, eating healthy is also all it’s cracked up to be. Not only does a good diet promote weight loss, strong bones, and reduced risks of disease, but it also fosters positive mental health by improving memory, boosting mood, and promoting good sleep. Eat clean and limit sugary drinks and you’ll be well on your way to a nutritious diet. 

Breathe Clean Air

Did you realize that the air you breathe can impact your mental health? Clean air has been shown to boost happiness. So while you should make getting plenty of fresh air outdoors a priority, don’t neglect the air in your home. Consider purchasing an air purifier to reduce pollutants and allergens. It’s best to consult reviews and guides before making a purchase. 

Do Something Relaxing/Fun

Sometimes, you just have to do something you enjoy. Think of something you would do on vacation and try to make it a weekly thing. Say “no” to working overtime so you can go hiking with your family. Take a long lunch break to go to your favorite spa. Activities unrelated to your obligations can help you keep life in perspective. 

Start a Journal

Another self-care practice that can be beneficial is to start a journal. Expressing your thoughts and feelings through writing is a great method for self-observance and relieving stress. You could also keep a weekly or daily progress journal in which you would write down things you are grateful for along with any goals you have recently accomplished.

Designate a Positivity Day

This is a fun one — and, truthfully, extremely difficult. Pick a day out of your week and decide that you’re not going to say anything negative all day. This includes both your conversations with others and your self-talk. When you get a negative thought, you have to quickly replace it with a positive thought. This is by far the hardest tip on this list to pull off, but if you go through your day with the mindset that only positive words and thoughts are welcome, you may be surprised by how much better you feel. 

Don’t Feel Bad About Self-Care

Last but not least: don’t feel guilty about doing things for yourself. Self-care is not selfish — it’s a necessity for anyone who wants to live an all-around healthy life. Besides, you can also be a much better person for others when you take care of yourself. 

There is much more to health than the physical aspects. In order to really be healthy, we must pay attention to our mental health. These eight tips are a good start, but they’re only the beginning. Do your research and figure out what self-care practices work the best for you. It’s not as much about what kind of self-care you do, it just matters that you’re doing it. 

Photo Credit: Unsplash

The Closed Mindset

Ugh! Have you ever met that one person that gives you fifty million excuses and reasoning’s of why they CAN’T do something? Knowing that they’ve never even attempted it! Or better yet, the person who complains all day about life’s  issues but, chooses not to do anything to improve on it? I absolutely cannot deal with it, let alone finding the strength in myself to even halfway use an ear to listen. Sadly to say, my first reaction is to immediately remove myself from the conversation. Don’t get me wrong if a person is discussing an issue with me that is very dear to them, then I am always there to listen and give the best possible advice because everyone needs someone.  But if that same person consistently discusses with me the same issues and they have not made an attempt for change, then that is a prime example of what I call “the closed mind”.

The closed mind can be a dangerous thing, hindering you from so many opportunities and possibilities. You never know what could be set out on the path that was designed for you. I found that most closed minded people, typically use phrases such as “I can’t, I’m not good at…., why does this always happen to me?, nothing great ever happens to me”, restrictive and  limited sentencing. Where is the room for improvement here? Everyone on this earth is practically granted the same opportunity, it’s all in what you choose to do with that opportunity. The true question is “What do you really want for yourself?” So that you will not have to give so many excuses. Once you begin asking yourself that question, that’s when you become unstoppable. Your true desires begin to surface and manifest because you are now in touch with who you really are. Nothing can out weight your determination on setting

The Little Things That Make You Happy

I once had someone tell me “go buy a journal and just talk to the higher power in it. Tell him all of your issues, your wants, your deepest fears and desires and watch these things begin to manifest or dissipate.” Of course I’ve always seen a movie or two about someone writing in their journal, but I never knew the benefits of why they did it and how it actually would make one feel! So off I went and found the cutest notebook (this was even easier being that I’m slightly infatuated with prints and colors). At first, I was completely confused on how to have started off. I think I was bullet pointing everything and that was a bore, but then I somehow fell into my own comfort zone and began with a simple “Dear God,”. I’d begin by discussing what may have happened to me that day, anything I was worried about, goals I may have wanted to achieve, whatever really came to my mind. After a few entries it became almost an instant flow of writing. I then decided to go buy me a new journal again after tearing out so many of those bulleted point pages. I couldn’t stand to have my journal looking like that when writing down all of life’s important and meaningful passages.

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