Resolutions for Better Mental Health
- Category: Behavioral Health
- Posted On:
Supporting Your Emotional Wellness in the New Year
With such a large emphasis on looking after your physical health during the Covid-19 pandemic, what better time than now to focus on your emotional health and wellness? Taking inspiration from the turn of the New Year, the health experts at Southwest General are here to share some tips to bolster your mental health!
Keep a Journal
While you may have kept a diary or journal in your younger years to house your secrets, it’s actually an excellent way to look after your mental health. Research has shown that writing out your thoughts and feelings in a journal can yield the following mental health benefits:
- Improves stress levels
- Lowers levels of anxiety
- Develops verbal communication skills
- Improves critical thinking and decision-making skills
- Helps to identify triggers
- Improves mood regulation
- Helps to track symptoms
Just grab a journal and pen that you like and commit to writing something every day to get started. Whether you want to write diary entries, poetry, draw or paint—your journal is your space to express yourself freely.
Practice Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is another great way to help quiet your mind and take charge of your mental health. This practice uses techniques to help to keep you present and aware of your current environment.
When many people hear about meditation and mindfulness, they think of it as being a spiritual and magical experience. However, this practice has some practical and evidence-based mental health benefits.
Some of the many benefits of meditating regularly include:
- Reduces stress levels
- Improves critical-thinking skills
- Decreases emotional reactivity
- Builds self-confidence
- Enhances feelings of self-compassion
- Supports healthy cognitive function
- Improves memory
- Decreases distressing emotion
Set Boundaries
From time to time, it can be easy for all of us to take on more responsibilities than we can handle. While it can be good to have positive stress in your life, too much stress can lead to burnout, which can affect your mental health. A simple way to work around this is to learn the power of saying “no.”
Remember that you don’t have to do every project, attend every meeting or go to every social gathering. You can prioritize your mental health and wellness without needing to feel guilty about it.
Seek Professional Treatment
For many people living with mental health issues, it can feel like an isolating experience and like no one can relate to what you’re feeling. However, seeking support from a mental health professional can prove to be beneficial.
