Introduction
Today’s mental health memo: we all know we need to practice self-care to improve mental health and ensure we’re in a healthy headspace, but how do we do it? Kelsie Bentley will be telling us how to do just this with her brilliant guest post today!
Kelsie Bentley is a self-care and personal development blogger at www.simplybentley.com. She got her unlikely start after nearly a decade of meeting struggling, burnt-out women from behind the chair as a hairstylist. Kelsie’s keen sense of observation combined with an empathic nature and an insatiable desire to help others led her to the online world to teach women that caring for themselves is the key to living the fulfilled life that they dream of.
Website: www.simplybentley.com
Email: [email protected]
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I hope you all enjoy it and show Kelsie lots of love and support!
12 Ways to Use Self-Care to Improve Mental Health :
If you’ve often felt that there was a need for you to improve mental health, self-care may be the best place to start. Self-care overall means that we are in:
- Good physical and mental health
- We have our basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter met
- We are finding satisfaction in areas of our lives that contribute to our intellectual and spiritual well-being.
When we want to improve mental health, it is important to observe the steps that we are taking specifically in the area of mental self-care. Mental self-care has to do with our ability to deal with stress, feeling intellectually stimulated, and being able to process information without becoming overwhelmed.
When we take the time to practice self-care in ways that improve mental health, those benefits can be seen in other areas of our lives as well. These can be anything from improvements to our physical health, our social lives, or our work performance.
Knowing which self-care activities to do to improve mental health will help us get started in improving these other areas also!
Self-Care Activities That Improve Mental Health:
1. Journaling
Whether it’s ranting, dreaming of possibilities for your future, or cataloging a special day, journaling is a self-care activity that is also a great way to improve mental health! It is said that journaling can:
- Increase our communication skills;
- Make us more mindful;
- Help to alleviate stress and anxiety;
- And even help us in our healing processes!
Journaling can take many forms, so if putting pen to paper isn’t your thing, don’t stress!
Perhaps you will choose to dictate your thoughts into the notes app on your phone, make a video diary, do audio recording, or even some form of art journaling.
No matter what form your journal comes in, getting thoughts out of your head will free up metaphorical space for the thing that you would rather be participating in.
2. Going to Therapy
Speaking of healing, therapy is another great opportunity to improve mental health through self-care. Therapy can help us heal from trauma, discern our path, and also allow us to have a safe place to air our thoughts and feelings. The ability to do these things is critical to our mental health.
Having a trusted therapist with whom you feel comfortable discussing your life’s events and thoughts can be paramount to improving your mental health.
3. Spending Time in Nature
There is fascinating science related to both mental and physical health benefits from time in nature. Spending time in nature as a form of self-care can improve mental health by prompting us to slow down, relieving stress, and incorporating more mindfulness into our lives.
Even something as simple as stepping outside and looking for the tiniest detail, a leaf blowing in the wind, an ant crawling along the ground, or a bird flitting through the sky will give us the benefits of having spent a little time with nature.
4. Making Time (Or a Conscious Effort) for Laughter
Yes, sometimes laughter is the best medicine. Laughter is a great way to improve mental health because it releases hormones that alleviate stress and it releases antibodies that leave our immune stronger.
Having a good laugh has lasting benefits that can improve mental health because the effects of the hormones released stay in our system even after we have stopped laughing.
Some of my favorite ways to get myself to laugh (even when I don’t feel like it!) are:
- Watching standup comedy specials;
- Watching funny videos of animals;
- Dancing around with my dog (and realizing how silly this must look!)
- Looking up “dad jokes” and watching my husband roll his eyes when I tell them to him.
Having a go-to solution when we’re in need of laughter is a great reminder not to take ourselves so seriously, and get some mental health benefits at the same time!
5. Social Media Detox
It’s no secret or surprise that social media can be toxic. When we are constantly bombarded with curated versions of everyone’s lives, we can be left feeling insignificant, left out, or even like we are failing at life.
Taking a social media detox for anywhere from a day to a few weeks is an excellent way to improve mental health. It is also surprising how much time we spend on social media and will suddenly have available for other activities.
6. Physical Activity
There’s a reason that physical activity always makes lists of ways to improve mental health…because it works! The problem (and our aversion to physical activity) probably stems from the fact that we usually try to over-complicate it.
Getting some physical activity, even in the form of a walk around the block, dancing, yoga, or playing a sport, releases endorphins, improves us physically, and improves mental health.
7. Healthy Outlets for Stress
Having a list of healthy outlets for dealing with stress is an excellent form of self-care to improve mental health.
Often, when we are stressed, there is a tendency to choose unhealthy ways to cope, such as indulgent eating, drinking alcohol, or even substance use. Just as bad would be holding all of the stress in.
Instead, knowing which healthy outlets work for us is an excellent way to practice self-care. Examples could include meditation or journaling, physical activity (perhaps in the form of something like boxing or martial arts) or even just venting to a friend.
8. Decluttering
It’s shocking how closely that our physical environment and our mental health are related. If our home or desk is cluttered, it can cause issues with our mental health also.
The presence of clutter can increase stress and decrease focus and motivation. When our minds are confronted with so much excessive visual stimuli, they become tired. This is due to the fact that we have to make decisions about everything that we come across within our environment.
Clearing out clutter is a great way to improve mental health and practice self-care at the same time.
9. Curate Your Social Life
This means something different for everyone depending on whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert.
For me, as an extrovert and people-pleaser, I have a tendency to over-commit myself to activities and get worn out. Social self-care for me is finding the balance between having enough social activities to meet my need for socializing, but not so many that I am running myself ragged.
On the other hand, for someone like my husband, who is an introvert, he needs to make sure that he is making the conscious effort to have downtime to recharge.
I see social obligations as something on a spectrum that ranges from completely extroverted to completely introverted. Most of us fall somewhere closer to the middle, and that position can change based on the season of life that we are in.
Realizing our current needs and adjusting our social life to fit them is an excellent way to practice self-care and improve mental health at the same time.
10. Making Time for Hobbies
An important part of self-care is enjoying yourself. Making time for hobbies improves mental health through a range of benefits.
- When we get deeply involved in a task that we are interested in, it allows our mind to be in the moment and focusing only on that singular task.
- This helps to reduce stress and tension, and it also helps improve mental health by providing our minds with a bit of novelty.
- In some cases, it may provide a physical outlet as well.
11. Frivolous Self Care
Frivolous self-care gets a bad name. It is often looked at as being the only form of self-care, although if this list is any indication, that is certainly not true. But frivolous self-care does have its place.
While we should be careful not to go overboard when we get into “treat yourself” mode, sometimes something like a frivolous spa day is exactly what the doctor ordered. This could include things like:
- A bubble bath
- Doing a detailed skincare regimen
- Getting a pedicure or DIY-ing one
Going through the motions of taking care of our physical bodies with things like a body scrub or a face mask can be methodical and relaxing. Once we have taken care of ourselves and given ourselves time to relax, there is also often a confidence boost that comes from our frivolous self-care.
12. Create Routines
Routines may seem boring, but they can actually be an effective form of self-care that also improves mental health.
Routines can be used to make self-care part of our lifestyle because routines create habits, which make behaviors automatic. When we build self-care into our routines, it helps us to eliminate decision fatigue, which improves mental health and helps us to take care of ourselves at the same time.
Self-Care Could Be the Link to Improving Your Mental Health
For too long, self-care has been looked at as being a Millennial invention that is nothing more than an excuse for self-indulgence. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
When we practice self-care strategically, it can do wonders for our mental health. Knowing which activities will help to improve mental health, along with the other benefits provided is the first place to start.
Try out some of these self-care ideas for mental health and see how they improve your situation. Each of them provides unique benefits that can greatly help us along our mental health journey.
Summary
It is absolutely essential for us to practice self-care so that we can truly be our best for others, and ourselves. So, thank you to Bentley for sharing her amazing tips on how we can improve our mental health through self-care and achieve that level of wellbeing.
Let us know in the comments which tip is your favorite and if you have any of your own!
All my love,
T
