Managing your mental health is one of the most important things you could do for yourself. Honestly, I struggle sometimes to keep my mental health in a good spot. I crack under the pressure of schoolwork, keeping up with my relationships, managing anxiety and days when I’m not even being able to get out of bed or meet deadlines. Especially in times like these, it’s important to open up about mental health and try to find ways to help manage it. Here are some things I do to try and help myself, and maybe you can try some of these, too.
Meditate
I know you have probably heard about the wonders of meditation, and I’m here to tell you that it works. Clearing your mind for just a few minutes a day can make a world of a difference, even if it’s only for a little while. By making it a part of your daily routine, meditation can help you feel more calm and relaxed. Meditating for 5 minutes a day helps me to keep myself grounded and not think about everything I might be stressing about. Sitting in a quiet space and focusing on your breath can do wonders for helping your mind to calm down and overall helping you relieve stress. I find that after meditating, I don’t stress as much as I did before I meditated. Forcing your mind to clear completely and taking and focusing on deep breaths I find helps to relieve the mind of intense feelings of stress and helps me to not freak out as much. Then, I’m able to tackle the day a little bit better.
Journal
You’ve also probably heard this one too. By journaling, you’re able to get everything in your head out into paper. I find that this helps me feel more relaxed overall. It almost feels like decluttering my own mind. Writing and getting out your feelings or what’s on your mind is the best way I know to make myself feel better and to learn more about myself, my emotions and what is stressing me out. Journaling every day is an amazing habit to develop and talking about your day and how you’re feeling is a great way to help manage your mental health.
Set reminders
There are so many days where I feel like staying in bed and totally disconnecting from the world. I tend to accidentally forget deadlines and I get low on motivation. I find that setting reminders and alarms for everything helps me to stay on top of the things I want to do throughout the day. Setting alarms/reminders for meditation and journaling can help you develop these good habits and make sure you don’t forget them on days where you feel like you can’t remember anything or are low on motivation. Customizing your alarms with messages of encouragement can get you motivated to complete good habits that are good for managing your mental health in the long run. Set reminders and alarms for assignments that are due as well, so you don’t forget those deadlines and clutter your mind with stress about missing assignments or due dates that seem to sneak up on you.
Make to-do lists
Breaking down things you need to complete during the day into smaller tasks in to-do lists helps to make everything seem a little bit more manageable, which at the end of the day can help manage your mental health. I always feel such a gigantic weight on my chest when I think of all the tasks I need to complete, but writing them all down into smaller, easier takes makes the weight a little lighter. Instead of keeping lists in your head of everything you need to accomplish during the day, writing it out and being able to physically look at what you need to do helps to make your agenda a little bit more manageable.
Take a break from social media
I know this could be a lot easier said than done for a lot of people. Going on twitter every day tends to be a little bit of a mood-killer and does add to my stress. Sometimes it’s essential to disconnect for a little bit. Taking some time out of your day to schedule time away from social media could be helpful to lower negative thoughts and feelings. People tend to dwell over bad news and it could get exhausting. Scheduling breaks and taking time away from social media might help you to feel more relaxed. It’s important to stay informed about what’s going on around you, so get your news from reliable sources online without using social media if you’re taking a break away.
I hope these tips help you manage your mental health!