Caring for your mental health is so important and honestly, we as a society don’t talk enough about why. There’s this stigma that exists about mental health, that it represents something negative about a person. You’re an outcast. There’s something wrong with you that specifically sets you apart from other people. Which isn’t the case at all.
Society has put a negative label on the term mental health. This has taught us all to shy away from openly talking about it. However, if we’re going to be 100% honest about mental health, we all experience it.
Mental health is the way you care for yourself mentally, and the way that care is carried over into your physical and emotional well-being. Which means that we all are experiencing the positive and negative effects of mental health on a daily basis.
It’s so important to recognize that your mental health is an essential part of your overall well-being. Your mental health influences so many areas of your health, wellness, and life. This includes areas such as your appetite, your energy levels, your sleeping habits, your level of concentration, your mood, and even the way you process information.
In order to make sure that we are performing at our best we must take the time to care for our mental health. Caring for your mental health can help you live a healthy, happy, and fulfilled life to the best of your ability.
There’s no better time to develop the habit of caring for your mental health than the time you spend at home. After all, it’s where we start and end the day. Here are 7 ways you can care for your mental health at home.
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Spend some time journaling
There’s no better way to clear your mind than to spend some time free writing. What I love about free writing is that it’s time you spend writing that is completely free of judgement.
Whatever thoughts you may have floating around in your head, no matter if they are good or bad, journaling gives you the opportunity to set them free. It creates a safe space for your personal thoughts where you are able to openly vent without any consequences.
I have been journaling for years and I find it to be one of the most therapeutic things for my mental health. Journaling is not only good for your mental health, but also your emotional health as well.
Journaling can help clear away any clutter that may exist as a result of pent up energy, thoughts, and emotions. All too often we shy away from talking to others about how we’re really feeling inside and this can cause us to emotionally isolate from others.
Think of journaling as another form of communication. It can be a way for you to communicate feelings that may be hard for you to communicate verbally with others, and even to acknowledge for yourself.
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Exercise
There’s no denying that exercise is good for your overall well-being. I push exercising on a daily basis for so many important reasons, but perhaps the most important is because of the impact that it can have on your mental health.
Exercise is not only good for your physical health, but it has great benefits on your emotional health as well. Exercising daily can help you start the day off with a clear mind and a good affect (mood). So much of what we do daily impacts our mental health due to the bits of information we have to process throughout the day.
Not being able to process that information with a clear mind can cause our emotions to scatter and our stress levels to increase. Adopting a consistent workout routine can help lower your stress levels and stabilize your emotions.
Taking the time in the day to care for your body trains your brain to concentrate on the here and now. Having that discipline can help you process bits of information with an open mind, rather than a clutter one.
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Talk to someone
One of the best things about being at home is being surrounded by people you love and trust. This is usually a good set-up for having someone to confide in when you need someone to talk to.
I have found that participating in the simplest form of conversation is a great way to distract the mind from all the things that are floating around in your head. Sometimes our emotions become scattered because we aren’t brain dumping everything that is happening inside our heads.
A big part of caring for your mental health is recognizing the role relationships play with poor vs. good mental health. Community is extremely important when it comes to thriving in life. I believe the sense of community you have makes all the difference in the way you care for your mental health.
While at home practice strengthening the relationships that you have with others. Engage in a conversation with someone that isn’t centered around what you did for the day. Instead talk about things that you may not normally talk about. Check in with each other, ask one another how they are feeling in the moment.
This helps to not only nourish the relationship that you have with that person, but to also keep your mind stimulated. Sometimes the best medicine for our mental health is talking.
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Eat well
Believe it or not what you eat influences your mental health. So much of the foods we eat influences the way we think, our energy levels, and even our mood from a moment to moment basis.
When we’re eating clean and healthy, we are more likely to experience better moods, better concentration, and higher energy levels. When we’re eating like crap the opposite is most likely to happen. While no one is perfect and most people have a specific diet that they like to follow, it’s important to do what you can to fuel your body with Earth’s greatest foods.
This includes foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole foods, and a lot less foods that are processed. Eating foods that are derived straight from the Earth can help you have better mental health.
While I’m not saying changing your diet is the key to better mental health, I do believe that our mental health is greatly influenced by the foods we eat. This is simply because our food helps our bodies make energy, and if we aren’t nourishing it in a way that is going to give us positive energy, our mind is not going to respond in the way we want it to.
Take the time to look at the types of foods that you have in your house and your current eating habits. Notice the way it makes you feel mentally and physically. If it’s not ideal consider changing small areas of your diet as a means to improve your overall well-being.
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Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness is perhaps the best thing we can do for our mental health. Mindfulness is the practice of noticing everything around you, judgment free, on a moment to moment basis. So much of our mental health is the result of the way our brain functions.
If you’re the type of person who carries a lot of pent up emotions, has tons of unorganized thoughts floating around in your head, and scattered emotions throughout the day it’s more than likely because you are emotionally unstable.
Being emotionally unstable is one of the easiest ways to recognize an imbalance with your mental health. Mindfulness can help fix that. Practicing mindfulness requires you to be aware at all times.
Due to this, the best way to practice mindfulness is to slowly ease yourself into it. This can easily be accomplished by practicing meditation daily. Practicing mindfulness for better mental health can allow your mind to process things a bit more smoothly, and to release yourself of judgment about the things you process and can’t control.
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Practice gratitude
Much like practicing mindfulness start practicing gratitude. Gratitude is knowingly appreciating everything that you have no matter how much or little of something that may be.
All too often we wake up and go about our day not taking the time be thankful for the littlest of things we have. This can literally be something as simple as the roof over our heads, the bed we were able to sleep in, the food that we were able to put in our bellies, and even the people that make up our life.
Practicing gratitude takes away the too little too late mindset and disciplines you to be thankful for all that you have in the moment daily. This is great for your mental health because it can take away the pressure to be perfect, to do everything right, and to even appear a certain way.
Instead, it provides you with the freedom to let go and just be human. A clear conscious and a pure heart is the secret recipe for good mental health.
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Conclusion
Caring for your mental health is vital to being the best version of yourself. When we are of sound mind, we are able to process things better, recognize our emotions before they get the best of us, and make better decisions.
While society has put this negative stigma on mental health, making it almost seem taboo to talk about it, the reality is that we need to talk about it more. We need to practice more compassion not only with ourselves but with others as well when it comes to mental health.
These are some of my favorite ways to care for my mental health in the comfort of my own home. There are tons of things that you can do to care for your mental health. Other ideas include reading a book, seeing a therapist, spending time with your pets, hiring a life coach, listening to podcasts, watching TV, going on a walk, and so much more.
When you think of caring for your mental health don’t think of it as curing a part of you that is broken. The key to good mental health is to know what it is you need, why you need it, and most importantly when you need it. Once you have identified these things then you need to give yourself whatever it is that you need.
And you practice doing so routinely.
What are some things you do to care for your mental health at home?
-Xo
Kimora