12 New Things to Try Taking Care of Your Mental Health

Taking care of your mental health is an important part of your overall well-being. If you want to feel your best every single day, you’ll need to begin making small changes that allow you to focus on a healthier you. Here are things you can try to take care of your mental health. 

• Take Care of Your Physical Health

Did you know? Taking care of your physical health can improve your mental health. For example, if you’ve ever experienced a runner’s high, you know that exercise impacts mental health and mood. Of course, other aspects of physical health impact mental health as well, such as diet. If you want to simultaneously begin to take care of your physical health and mental health, consider:

1. Eating healthy meals
2. Avoiding smoking 
3. Staying hydrated
4. Getting enough exercise
5. Prioritizing sleep 

• Practice Gratitude

Gratitude allows you to take stock of what you have and why you’re grateful for it. There are many ways to practice gratitude, such as praying before a meal with your family. However, you can practice gratitude by yourself with a gratitude journal. Each night before bed, you’ll write down what you’re grateful for and why. 

By practicing gratitude, you can help yourself forget about the stress of the day so you can focus your mind on what’s truly important in your life — the things that make you happy. 

• Speak Kindly to Yourself

Many people have a voice in their head that makes them doubt themselves. Whether it’s telling you that you can’t do something making you feel nervous about a presentation at work, one of the best ways to quiet down that voice is to speak kindly to yourself. Instead of telling yourself what you don’t believe you’re capable of, talk to yourself like you would a friend or family member. 

• Keep Good Company

There’s nothing worse for your mental health than being around people that make you feel bad about yourself or upset you. Instead of holding onto toxic relationships, focus on building relationships with people who lift you up. Being surrounded by family and friends can maintain your health than those that don’t have the same support network. Consider spending more time with family and friends to help reduce your stress. 

• Learn Stress Management

Stress happens to everyone, but not everyone knows how to effectively deal with that stress. If you don’t address your stress and find a way to manage it, you could bottle it up, which can take a mental and physical toll on you. There are lots of ways to help you reduce stress, including exercise, spending time with your pet, or doing breathing exercises. 

• Set Goals

Setting goals allows you to feel like you’re on your way to accomplishing something important to you. Not only that, but once you reach those goals, you can feel proud of yourself and motivated to continue with more goals that can help advance your life and career. You should always aim high but remain realistic and try not to overwhelm yourself. 

• Get Help

Everyone needs a little bit of help sometimes. If you find your mental health is suffering for any reason and you can’t get it under control on your own, consider finding a mental health provider or therapist that can help you learn techniques for dealing with situations and problems that impact your mental health. 

• Drink Responsibly 

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying alcoholic beverages if you’re of legal drinking age. However, you should never start drinking alcohol to deal with life problems, including stress or loneliness. As soon as the alcohol wears off, you’ll feel just as bad, if not worse, because alcohol can directly impact your mental health. Alcohol is a depressant, which can make you feel down even if you weren’t feeling that way before drinking. 

Alcohol affects everyone in different ways, so you must know whether alcohol is safe for you to drink based on several factors, including how it impacts your mental health. 

• Take a Break

When was the last time you did something for yourself? There’s hardly any time for yourself between going to work, cleaning the house, and taking care of others. Instead of accepting the fact you don’t get to do the things you want to do, consider taking a break. You can choose to go on a vacation or simply spend an hour every night focusing on something you enjoy, such as doing yoga or reading your favorite book. Taking time for yourself allows you to further enjoy the little things in life so you can feel more energized and productive the next day. 

• Care for Others

Taking care of others will allow you to step outside of your daily life and focus on someone else’s needs. You can care for others by simply spending time with family and friends or doing something nice for someone else. Spending time focusing on others allows you to stop being negative about yourself and spend more time enjoying life. Another option is getting a pet, many have found comfort in caring for a furry friend as they are known to be the best type of companion. 

• Learn to Say No

We live in a world where we can be alienated from friends and family by turning down invites or saying no to requests. However, sometimes these requests and invitations to events can cause stress in our lives that isn’t necessary. Instead of worrying about what someone will think of you for saying no, consider how saying no can benefit your life and mental health. Of course, there are times when you should avoid saying no, especially when it can impact your job, happiness, or finances.

• Check-In With Yourself

Our lives get so busy we hardly have time to stop and think about how we’re feeling. By frequently checking in with yourself and asking yourself how you feel about the things going on in your life, you can start coming up with action plans to improve your mental health. For example, if you’re in a stressful situation, take a few deep breaths and think about what you should do next instead of having an immediate reaction. 

Even when you aren’t stressed, consider checking in with yourself and asking yourself if there’s anything negatively impacting how you feel so you can make the necessary changes. 

Bio: Marné Amoguis holds a B.A. in International Business from UC San Diego. She is a contributing writer at 365businesstips.com, where she loves sharing her passion for digital marketing. Outside of writing, she loves traveling, playing music, and hiking.