Mental Health Awareness Month

~January ~

Mental Health Awareness Month

This is maybe should have been my first post this month, but decided to go with some items that anyone could be dealing with first. So, here it is now.

What is mental health, well when I first think about this what comes to my mind is overall well being as this does effect every aspect of your life from social to personal thoughts to your medical health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines in as:

            Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Mental health is a basic human right. And it is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.

Please refer to their website for additional information. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response

So what could we do to optimize our mental health?

1. Put yourself first. I have talked about this and will continue to do so as this is the most important item. Many of us, in mental health, use the analogy of the airplane. Remember when you are on the airplane, and they are giving instructions in case of a crash? What do they say about the oxygen mask?

Put yours on first, right? This is our self care or putting yourself first. If you don’t take care of your self (put your own mask on first), then you cannot take care of others. My instructor was just reviewing this in my yoga class as well (I am working on completing my 300 hour portion now). We cannot give if we have not filled ourselves first. This is a thought that transcends many disciplines and practices.

Work on your healthy lifestyle including but not limited to: nutrition, sleep, exercise and getting outside (weather permitting in ND now of course).

2. Take time for your enjoyment. So what do you enjoy which you have not done recently? Balancing your life wheel or circle is something you will hear from me as well. We all need to stop working and dealing with all our life stressors/commitments and just do something we enjoy. The old saying “stop and smell the roses”. Okay, I am not actually talking about stopping and smelling the roses unless that is something that brings you joy, but stop and do something you enjoy. Get social in items you enjoy!

 https://www.unh.edu/pacs/balanced-life-defining-it-restoring-it-when-it-has-been-lost

There are more items to discuss related to this but if we start with one and build or if you are doing one, add in a second. I do not want anyone to feel it is like a checklist or need to do this and then that. This will add to more stress and less positive impact on mental health.