October 10 is World Mental Health Day, an annual initiative aimed at raising awareness and reducing the stigma associated with mental health. One of the most accessible ways we can care for our mental health is through building strong self-care habits. Self-care is defined as the actions and activities we engage in to support our overall well-being and is often divided into different categories including physical, mental, emotional, environmental, financial, social, recreational, and spiritual.
In honour of World Mental Health Day, let’s look at some ways that we can care for our overall health and well-being!
Nourish Your Body
Snickers always say “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” and y’know what… they’re right. Ensuring that you are properly hydrating and eating enough doesn’t just support your body, it also supports your brain. Some benefits of proper nutrition and hydration include hormone regulation, increased productivity, balanced energy levels, and better overall mood.
When I’m feeling demotivated in the realm of eating, I like to cook comfort food. Comfort food means something different for everyone but some of my personal favourites include toast with cinnamon and sugar, mac ‘n’ cheese with extra cheese, or a home-baked sweet treat!
Build Hygiene Habits
This is a topic that can generate a lot of embarrassment or shame but I’m here to tell you: wherever you are in your hygiene journey, it’s ok! There’s lots of reasons people struggle with hygiene habits in adulthood including mental health struggles or childhood neglect.
Whether you struggle with showering, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, or anything else, today can be the first day of building positive hygiene habits in your life. According to Healthline, they recommend focusing on one habit at a time and utilizing reminders such as alarms or visual signs.
Get Creative
I’ve found that promoting opportunities to flex my creative muscles has been one of the most effective strategies for managing school and work-related stress. As many may be able to relate, I have a bad habit of being drawn to a new hobby, spending far too much money, and then leaving it to rot under my bed a week later. But creativity comes in so many forms and doesn’t have to be expensive.
A creative hobby that has been both generative and student budget-friendly has been collaging. The process of collaging has allowed me to let go of perfectionist habits than I have in different creative pursuits and just focus on the act. You can collage with nearly anything from newspapers and receipts to free stickers and old magazines. If you want to try collaging for free check out the website BeFunky.com, where you can use stock images to make digital photo medleys.
Building Self-Esteem
Have you ever heard of the term self-esteem? Self-esteem refers to how people evaluate themselves based on how others evaluate them. Self-esteem can be divided into four types. First, worthiness-based self-esteem depends on approval from others and is vulnerable to defensive behavior. Second, high self-esteem refers to a relatively stable sense of self-worth. Third, low self-esteem focuses on preventing further loss of one’s sense of ability or worth. Lastly, there is competence-based self-esteem, which is characterized by the pursuit of success and sensitivity to concerns about failure.
Among these types, we should try to develop relatively stable high self-esteem by focusing on positive aspects of life and our inner value. Self-esteem helps people cope effectively with stress and acts as a buffer against stressful and negative situations.
Therefore, developing self-esteem is important for recognizing our own value and living a positive life. In particular, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps people identify negative beliefs about themselves and change them in a more realistic and positive direction. It has been shown to be effective in improving self-esteem. For example, instead of thinking, “I am bad at studying” after receiving a low test score, one can think, “I did not get the score I wanted this time, but I can improve by working on my weaknesses.” In addition, it is important to avoid comparing ourselves to others and learn to accept and respect ourselves as we are.
Writing a Gratitude Journal
For an assignment in my major course, “Counselling Theories and Practice,” I once had the opportunity to write a gratitude journal every day. At first, I did not know what to write about, and I could not think of anything special to be grateful for. However, as I started looking for things to appreciate, I realized that even ordinary moments, such as starting the day healthy, having lunch with friends, and talking happily with my family in the evening, are precious.
How often do we appreciate what we have in our everyday lives? Things that seem ordinary to us may be someone else’s lifelong dream. By taking time to reflect on the small moments of happiness in our day through gratitude journaling, we can gradually fill our hearts with more joy and contentment.
If you would like to give it a try, I recommend the Gratitude: Self Care Journal app. For more information, visit https://blog.gratefulness.me/.
We have now explored several ways to practice self-care. It’s not as difficult as you might think, right? Self-care does not have to involve anything complicated or special; it starts with small actions in our everyday lives. Why not start today by practicing one small act of self-care and taking some time to care for your mental health and happiness?