World Mental Health Day
We love that you all want to take care of your body.
You want to eat the best food, exercise often and are in on all the latest skin care regimes (yeah, men too!!) so you can wear that all natural glow.
But remember when your parents would always say “it’s what’s on the inside that counts”
They weren’t telling you a lie.
Your head matters most.
Health isn’t just what you’re eating. How well you’re doing in the gym. How well your skin glows.
Health is all of those things along with what you’re thinking and saying too.
How often do you take the time to actually NOURISH your mental health
All too often, we do everything that harms our mental health. It’s like eating the takeout, skipping the gym, going out 5 nights a week – except we’re damaging our own head. We put ourselves down. We compare ourselves to everyone else. We take too much on so that our schedule is beyond capacity. We don’t sleep enough. We don’t make time for ourselves. We forget to make time for loved ones.
And the list goes on.
We know it’s hard to get everything fitted in. You’re not superhuman. You shouldn’t try to be.
So how do you maintain a career, study in school or university, exercise dailym eat well, make time for family & friends, be a parent, be a wife or husband…AND be your own best friend too
Well, we’re not the experts but we do have some of our own little tips that we try to utilise often (although, it doesn’t always work out – but hey ho, that’s life & nothing Is perfect!)
First and foremost, Learn to say NO!
Stop bending over backwards and tying yourself in knots to be in places, attend events, volunteer, take on extra work when it’s only decreasing the quality of your days. Added stress to what is an already crazy world is a no- no.
- Take an hour to yourself.
Be it first thing in the morning, in the middle of the day or last thing at night – try to get a period of time in the day where it’s all about you. Take longer over a cup of coffee, read a book, put on a face mask – this is not being selfish. This is a time to unwind, gather your thoughts, reboot. Daily living is hectic for everyone – there is no shame in standing still.
- Get outside.
There is something about the outdoors that helps us to lose ourselves. Go for a walk. Climb a mountain. Ireland has some of the most amazing walks, trails and climbs – grab your friends and embrace everything that isn’t contained within 4 walls.
- SLEEP.
This is a big one. Our society have developed this mad ideal that the less you sleep, the greater the hero you are. It’s much of the opposite. Sleep is KING. It helps us to recover both mentally and physically. Our body does so much whilst we sleep which we don’t truly appreciate. Sleep reduces stress & improves brain health massively, helping our brain to function more effectively. Babies are given consistent bedtimes – why did this change when we became adults. Get into a healthy sleep routine and be selfish about it. Turn off your phone, ditch the caffeine, remove all stressors. You’ll only thank us later!
- Get off social media.
Spending hours each day scrolling through content posted by people you haven’t yet encountered in real life is NOT INSPIRING YOU. It’s draining. Connect with others outside of your phone. Talking and doing are much better than scrolling. Social media encourages us to compare our lives when, nobody is posting the bad days or the failures. Do things with friends or arrange activities…anything that doesn’t involve obsessing over blue ticks & Instagram feeds. (We’re not saying to delete yourself off social media, but use it better and know when it’s doing you harm)
- Ask for help.
This is important and it applies to everyone. It can be when you’re simply feeling a little off and need someone to help take the weight off your shoulders. Help can be a chat, a coffee with friends, or someone sharing workload. There is no shame in asking for help, regardless of what it’s for. This will help to keep you mentally healthy. Everyone has times when they don’t feel as good as they know they could – help is always, always there.
Today, 10thOctober is World Mental Health Day, but we encourage you to make this a priority every single day.
As we said, we are not experts, but we think everyone has a duty of care to themselves to ensure they’re looking after their head and to know how to support loved ones too.
If you do feel like your mental health is getting on top of you, please speak to your GP.