6 Ways to Take Control of Your Mental Health with Self-Care
by Brad Krause
When taking care of your mental health feels like a constant battle, it may be time to make some changes in your life. More importantly, it may be time to make some positive changes when it comes to your self-care habits. Even the smallest shifts in your self-care routine can make a major impact on your mental health, including these simple and doable daily practices.
End Self-Care Struggles
If you struggle with self-care, your troubles may stem from how you define the term “self-care.” Social media can be especially misleading when it comes to self-care, and influencers often define self-care as “prolonged pleasurable time resulting in peace, happiness, and beauty.” While that sounds truly amazing, the type of self-care used to manage mental health is much more basic and attainable than that. These consistent self-care habits are also more effective.
Eat Mood-Boosting Foods
Your new self-care routine can start with what you put on your plate in the mornings. Eating depression-fighting foods, including bananas, dark berries, avocados, and chia seeds, can provide the boost your brain needs to keep your mood upbeat and balanced. If you need to take your breakfast on the go, you can always blend a few of these foods into a superfood smoothie.
Fit in Regular Exercise
If you want an extra dose of self-care and a mood boost in the mornings, try to get some exercise before you start the rest of your day. Research has found that people who get moving for as little as 15 minutes each day are less at risk for depression and anxiety. So lay your workout clothes out the night before and go for a brisk walk before you have your brain-boosting breakfast. If you prefer to stay inside, you can also try a short yoga practice.
Explore Therapy Options
Even though the stigma around mental health is slowly fading, you may find it difficult to seek the counseling and other professional services you need. It may help to think of it this way: counseling is to your mental health what regular checkups are to your physical health. If cost is a concern, you can also check in with your insurance to see if counseling is covered. Be sure to review your health coverages annually to see if changes are needed.
Discover Inner Balance
When your life feels “out of whack,” your mental health can be at risk. Unreasonable self-expectations, misaligned priorities, and feelings of shame/fear/guilt are what lead to these feelings of an unbalanced life. To re-establish balance and take back control of your mental health, you just need to work through these issues with a focus on what makes you feel content. Taking on far too much can also make you feel out of balance. So, avoid overcommitting yourself to others by learning to say “no” and establishing boundaries to preserve your time.
Establish Financial Security
In their most recent survey on stress, the American Psychological Association found that nearly 62 percent of the population feels stressed about money on a regular basis. Some steps you can take to ease this tension include keeping track of your spending and creating a plan to pay down debts. If you own a home, you can also think about refinancing your home loan. Refinancing can help with financial stress by reducing the equity you’ve built to free up cash or decrease your monthly payments, which in turn will allow you to pay down other debts.
Self-care shouldn’t feel like an extra burden. After all, self-care is meant to manage and protect your mental health. So, if you feel overwhelmed by your emotions, adapting your daily routines to include more simple self-care could provide relief. Just be sure to tailor these practices to suit your specific needs and lifestyle. Because self-care should always aim to balance the self.
Photo Credit: Unsplash
More about Brad
After spending most of his time in a corporate setting and neglecting his own self-care far too long, Brad embraced his calling and decided to become a full-time life coach. He now spends the rest of his life helping people get a better foothold on their wellness above all else.