May 2022 is just around the corner which means it’s nearly time for World Mental Health Month again. With that in mind, I wanted to write some mental health reminders because the focus shouldn’t just be on one month of the year. Mental health affects us all, all of the time whether you think you are immune or not. We are all at the will of anxiety, depression and low mood.
I think it’s more important than ever to pay attention to the way you feel and have a think about why you may feel that way. You may feel yourself feeling low at times for seemingly no reason. Other times you may be able to notice things that are affecting your mood. In doing so, you can stop partaking in those things.
With the pandemic still raging, the cost of living souring and the terrible events taking place in Ukraine, it can feel as if the world is a dark, dark place without a light in sight.
When you’re stuck in a dark place and you feel like there’s little hope, you need mental health reminders. In fact, you need them over and over and over again because even if they seem trivial or cliché, they still apply and I believe they are true.
Here are 15 mental health reminders to keep in mind. Don’t forget to bookmark this page when you need a little reminding.
1. You are not alone
It’s easy to think you’re alone when you’re struggling. After all, we’re made to think that being content and happy is the baseline way we should always be at. It’s also easy to look at everyone else and think they are doing just fine. In reality, everyone is dealing with something different.
It’s said that 1 in 4 people struggle with their mental health but like I mentioned above, mental health affects us all at some level, even the most ‘put together’ people you know are affected.
2. It will pass
Whilst mental health conditions can feel permanent and isolating, they will pass. I often think back to many different periods in my life when I felt like I’d lost all hope. In retrospect, those phases lasted weeks and at most months but they all had one thing in common – they all passed eventually. Sure, those kinds of feelings may come back at different points in my life but I accept that and in the meantime, I’m trying to learn coping mechanisms and finding ways to not allow them to pop up so often.
When you’re younger, you don’t have the time or experience to understand this mental health reminder but take comfort in knowing that how you feel today won’t be how you feel tomorrow. Even if it takes a little while to get out of that sort of headspace, you will eventually and you’ll then gain a better perspective.
3. It’s okay to feel down
As I alluded to in point one, it’s easy to feel as if you should be happy all the time. After all, we’re bombarded by advertisements that try and shill us things to make our lives better, images of perfect people having fun and people we know framing their lives as perfect in carefully crafted social media posts.
On the face of things, it looks like everyone is happier than you, more often than you. However, no one ever tells you it’s okay to feel fed up from time to time. Sometimes you really can just feel sad and have no good reason. Don’t beat yourself up for not being happy all the time. After all, happiness is defined differently by everyone. Again, it will pass.
4. Taking a break is fine
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, burnout can be hard to spot until you reach a breaking point. There’s no shame in taking a break for yourself from time to time. Over the past ten years, I’ve noticed a trend on social media especially in encouraging people to ‘always be on the grind’. Whilst it’s healthy to work hard, there’s also a point where it becomes very unhealthy for not only your mind but your body as well.
As a human being, you need to decompress and blow off steam otherwise you can suffer from the crippling effects of stress. Don’t feel guilty for taking a day off.
5. You’re not broken
You’re not broken, different or weird for having a breakdown, a panic attack or a fit of tears. I have a limit as do you. You can juggle so many things at one time before you need to step back and take some time for yourself. The problem with feeling as if you’re broken is it’s tempting to then be harder on yourself and in turn, make yourself feel worse.
There’s plenty of written scientific research to suggest you’re not broken. You may not feel like ‘you should’, but you’re not broken and there is help out there.
6. Asking for help is no big deal
Asking for help is no big deal. Everyone has to ask for help at some point and there are plenty of places to reach out to if you don’t feel comfortable speaking with a family member. Just taking the first step in opening up to someone will make you feel half as heavy, at least that was the case in my experience.
Mentalhealthresources.org.uk (UK)
Mental Health NHS (UK)
Samaritans (UK)
National Institute of Mental Health (USA)
CDC.GOV (USA)
7. Detaching from media is fine
Even though the world is addicted to media whether traditional news or social media, don’t feel bad about taking a break or chucking in the towel altogether. It’s come to be expected for you and me to have a social media presence and it’s often seen as odd if you don’t. However, it is true that scrolling social networks and the news alike is a big time-wasting activity.
Not only does it eat a large part of your day but quite often you come away feeling worse than you did beforehand. This is one of the most important mental health reminders on my list because engaging with media is addictive and takes up many of the hours in our days in 2022. Think about what else you could be doing.
8. Work on yourself
Instead of wasting away your day looking at other people projecting themselves on you online, work on yourself. Once you have done something productive, don’t share it online! For example, if you’re feeling fed up, turn the downtime into something that can push you forward. You could start writing a book about how you feel and why you feel the way you do, start a blog to express yourself or sign up for an online class to learn something new.
In my opinion, mental health becomes worse when you feel as if you have a loss of control in your life. If you start something you can control you’ll gain a sense of positive forward momentum which can compound over time.
9. Get better at your own pace
Get better and heal at your own pace but don’t push those who want to help away. It’s tempting to hide away when you’re feeling low. You may even turn your phone off and try to escape the world. Whilst you should take as much time as you need, it’s important not to push those that love you away because they’re the ones who truly care about you.
If you need to, tell others you’ll be with them when you’re feeling better. Sometimes it can take a little longer to decompress than other times.
10. The world is a complicated place
The world is a complicated place. It’s alright not to have it all figured out or your next move lined up. Even people in their 70’s and 80’s feel a little lost at times. There’s a lot to think about, prepare for, organise and work at and most of your time is spent balancing these different things. Therefore, it’s only natural you’ll get burnout or stressed from time to time. Life isn’t all beaches and relaxing. That doesn’t really exist. Even if it did, wouldn’t that get boring after a while?
11. Pick a purpose
When it feels like there’s no purpose to your life, why not pick one yourself? Feeling a sense of purposelessness can be crippling and isolating. If you feel like you don’t know what to do with yourself or your time, try and choose a subject and dive into it. Learn what you can and immerse yourself. In my opinion, having anything at all to give your life a structure is better than waiting for something to come to you as you drift around aimlessly. That ‘one big thing that I love’ rarely comes naturally to people, at least from what I’ve seen, so just pick something to get stuck into it. Even if you don’t stick with it, it will help you to discover other things that you may enjoy more.
The more you exercise your curiosity, the less time to have to feel down and lousy.
12. You’re just as capable
You may not be able to become a pro basketball player if you’re 5ft tall but you’re likely just as capable of doing most things as anyone else. In my opinion, and my experience, people sometimes tell themselves that they aren’t as smart or talented as other people because they have a low sense of self-worth but the truth is, if you work as hard as someone else, you stand a good chance of achieving what they have.
You probably have core beliefs about yourself (limiting beliefs) that hold you back without you realising it. If you allow yourself to explore your potential, you may just surprise yourself with what you can actually achieve.
13. The world is still largely good!
Although the world is a complicated place to navigate that can make it seem darker than it actually is, there is still a lot of good in it. The problem is, bad news sells, drama sells and good and uplifting news falls to the side. You only have to watch the news or see how many reality TV shows exist to see how popular the ‘dramatic bad news’ trend is. However, if you look past the surface you’ll find the courageous, positive and inspiring people doing amazing things every day.
The world is a beautiful place with stunning nature and life, lots of different foods to explore, places to discover and interesting people to meet. It is a big wide world with something for everyone. So, even if you find yourself with a negative image of the world, you likely haven’t exposed yourself enough to the good that exists. It is out there, even though it may seem like it is not.
14. Become more mindful
Mindfulness is becoming more and more popular. After all, it’s a free and easy way to look after your mental health better. The idea is to become more aware of what you’re doing to anchor yourself to the present moment. We spend most of our waking hours going through the motions, not really having to think too much. When you become more mindful, you take your time to appreciate living, rather than just trying to mindlessly get through the day.
If you’re new to mindfulness, here are some quick mindfulness exercises you can incorporate into your day with ease.
15. Move around a bit more
Going out and doing exercise is probably (and usually) the last thing you fancy doing when you feel rubbish. However, there’s no denying it makes you feel so much better once you’re done. It’s also undeniable that physical activity releases ‘feel good’ chemicals in your body. Whenever I feel fed up, I’ll try and go for a walk or do something with my body. I always come away feeling better, not just because my body has moved about but because it feels like a little ‘win’ due to also satisfying my need to be productive.
Physical activity, for me, is better than popping a pill to feel better. If you can dial in your diet at the same time, you’ll give yourself a powerful and natural way of feeling so much better. When I eat better, I find my mood improves tremendously. There are plenty of free recipes you can find online to try out so there’s no excuses!
Mental health reminders
I hope these mental health reminders are helpful but more importantly – useful. Sometimes you need reminders, especially when you’re not in a place where you’re comfortable talking to someone. However, if you really are struggling and have been for a long time, you should consider talking to someone about your mood.