BY: NADIA ZAIDI
Mental health requires nourishment and nurturing. We often take it for granted. Magic pills aren’t the solution, and therapy is the beginning to a whole new lifestyle change. There are simple, yet crucial things you can do to help your mental health and embrace more positivity.
Eliminate jealous, critical, and negative people
We are as happy as the people we surround ourselves with. Be honest with yourself about your relationships. If you feel that you are giving more than you are gaining, it’s time you revaluate their presence in your life.
Someone once told me that you should only have as many true friends as fingers on your hand. The more I thought of it, the more sense it made. Sure, we all have acquaintances and colleagues and people who make up the different relationships we have. But our inner circle should be intimate and filled with the right types of people. Your mental and physical health depends on it.
If there is one lesson that I’ve learned, it’s not to indulge negativity. Always indulge positivity. Always fixate on what’s going well in your life, rather than what could be better. Truthfully, everything could be better, but that’s the type of ungrateful mentality we need to stray from.
We all feel jealous from time-to-time. But seething amounts of jealousy are deeply unhealthy and creates negative fixations and abnormal thoughts. These types of people are more interested in your demise than your progression.
People who are constantly critical and judgemental of your choices are going to make you feel inadequate and as though you aren’t ever going to find peace. Negative people only fixate on perceived negativity, and never want you to believe that anything is going right. Misery loves company. Don’t entertain those types.
Exercise
You might be thinking: what if I don’t want to? Think of exercise as a critical part of your well being and development. Start with baby steps like walking to the corner store, rather than driving. It could even be as simple as going up a flight of stairs a few times a day. Gradually move towards a regiment of physical exercise. It helps to increase serotonin, increases energy, and reduces feelings of sluggishness by increasing motivation.
Turn off your phone
Detach from the virtual world and step into reality from time to time. It’s not healthy to ingest everybody else’s “life” via social media, because most of the time it means that you are neglecting your own. Turn off all of your devices during dinner, or maybe for an hour before bed. It will work wonders.
Focus on the small, simple things
Learn gratitude for the small things that you take for granted. Your health, the roof over your head, friends and family. These are the most fundamental aspects of life, and everything else should be viewed as a cherry on the ice cream of life.
Indulge in a hobby, or something you truly love
We’re working most of our lives, so it’s great to kick back and enjoy doing something that you don’t have to do. It helps to release those creative juices that are often neglected when you are busy doing your job.
