Here are some tips and tricks I have learned to help you and others prioritize yourself and your mental health. I was recently listening to a podcast by Mel Robbins, and if you haven’t heard of her already, take a listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. College itself can be a lot along with balancing out work and life in general. It can be tough to put yourself first. The Mel Robbins podcast has been one of my favorites recently because it talks a lot about self-help and how to make yourself better through mental exercises. The podcast was called “How to Create the Life You Want,” and she interviewed Dr. Judith Joseph, a psychologist. She studies the idea of happiness and how to create more of it for yourself through mental steps that can help your overall behavior. They talked about five good habits to create for yourself and how that can help restructure your mind. Overall, this increases our own happiness and can increase our dopamine levels, which is a happy hormone that we excrete when we feel joy. We all have had feelings of being overwhelmed, overworked, and mentally and physically exhausted. I am here to share those with you so that hopefully, they can help you like they did for me. These are the five V’s she explained to help you thrive:
1. Validation
This is the first V of the five. It explains how we have to acknowledge and validate how we feel in the moment. This is crucial because we tend to suppress how we feel. For me, I do it far too often and have to put myself back in check. This can be a useful tool in prioritizing mental health because as women especially, we ignore our feelings to please others. When we validate how we feel, this can help our brains release stress and anxiety. It can make us feel calmer and like a breath of fresh air. When we don’t validate our feelings, it can only lead to more stress, anxiety, and pressure on ourselves when in reality it is okay to take a deep breath and assess how you feel.
2. venting
The second of the five V’s of happiness explains getting to the root of your feelings and starting to validate them. This can be through prayer, talking to a mentor, therapist, or even a family member. Seeking out advice from people who want to help you and care about you can be a game changer. This can be a healthy way of communicating because it allows you to get your feelings out and gives you the ability to take a deep breath afterwards. This can be expressed through social media posts, music, or even journaling your feelings. It’s best to reflect on your emotions before immediately trauma dumping on someone. Instead, take a day to process and then you will be able to express it to other people.
3. values
This takes a closer look into what we value and we how we can feel full, fed, and purposeful through what we feel passionate about and enjoy doing. Some ways to do this are through volunteer work, serving at a church, spending time with your family and others who make you feel good. In this world, we tend to value materialistic things over prioritizing what impact we can make while we are still here on earth. Dr. Judith explained that when we are on our death bed, we aren’t going to be wishing we had a pink Porsche, but rather, we will reflect on what impact we had on the world and how we used our skills to help create change and build positive relationships. This really hit me because it made me rethink my life and what mark I want to make on others in this world, as well as how I can be more positive through those experiences. It also examines how we can help others in our own lives who we know are stuck and what mental exercises they can take to better themselves. This can be a useful tool in being able to not only create an impact on strangers but our own inner circle.
“Your mental health is everything, Prioritize it. make the time like your life depends on it, because it does. ” – Mel Robbins
4. vitals
This V takes a closer look at how we can improve our physical health through what we eat, our sleep, and the benefits of taking care of our own bodies. One thing that Dr. Judith asks her daughter is, “How many bodies did God give you?” Her daughter answers, “One.” Then, Dr. Judith asks, “What do we have to do with it?” Her daughter says, “Take care of it.” I thought this was a beautiful way of looking at it, regardless of what you believe in, because we only get one body. We should take care of it and nourish it the best we can. This can be through exercising, eating healthy and drinking water, as these things help your body function well. By prioritizing our physical health, we can be able to live longer through taking care of our physical bodies as well as our mental health.
5. vision
Vision takes a closer look at how we tend to get so busy with our daily lives that we forget to look around us and appreciate the blessings we have. We have a hard time celebrating the little wins in our lives. Getting to class on time, finishing an assignment, completing daily errands, or even making time for self-care are all wins that deserve recognition. However, because these moments feel like a routine, we rarely take the time to celebrate them. When we shift our mindset to appreciate these small achievements, we start to see the value in our everyday efforts. Giving gratitude for where we are now can fuel our motivation to keep going, rather than constantly feeling like we’re chasing unreachable goals.
Prioritizing our mental health and well-being isn’t always easy, but by implementing these five V’s into our daily lives, we can create positive change for ourselves and those around us. Acknowledging our feelings, aligning with our values, taking care of our physical health, and embracing gratitude all contribute to a healthier mindset and overall happiness. Life can be overwhelming, but small, intentional steps can help us feel more fulfilled and in control. Remember, the journey to a better you starts with appreciating where you are now and making conscious choices to grow each day.