3 Ways to Support Your Mental Health
Have you stop to take a Mental Selfie lately?
This season is filled with graduations and weddings can cause anxiety with the uncertainty of what’s next. However, if we are being honest, just living everyday life can raise your blood pressure. The CDC says that over 50% of Americans will struggle with mental health issues during their lifetime. Y’all that means there’s a whole lot of folks out there struggling and not saying something. ThIs leads to one important question: What are you doing to address it? Are you sweeping it under the rug so you can be the strong black woman stereotype, while silently dying on the inside or are you releasing those stressors and tackling the deeper issues? Below are 3 things to consider here when taking care of your mental health.
Find a place where you can be completely honest about your thoughts and feelings. A journal and mediation time goes a long way. Writing down your thoughts is a way to release negative thinking or the things you may feel you need to say and not have to worry about it coming out right. A lot of times we hold on to what’s bothering us and as a result end up living the adage of drinking poison but expecting the other person who has hurt us to feel the effects. Use a journal as a way to release thoughts and remove the sting of what's going on. Reading the Bible and taking some deep breaths can allow you to step away from the situation to see another perspective. Since it’s national prayer day (May 5th), I figured I would drop one in this post to get you started😉
““This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’”
Matthew 6:9-13 NIVhttps://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.9-13.NIV
Take some self care IMMEDIATELY. Let’s just assume that you are in need of some self care time. There’s no harm in spending too much time in self care. Did you know that some employers offer mental health days off? Take some time to pamper yourself and relax. If you don’t already have a regularly scheduled self care time- make sure you do it now.
Create a mental health support system- therapist, family, close friend and/or spouse. Don’t suffer in silence. If you are questioning if you need a therapist- trust your gut and get one. You are questioning for a reason, do whatever it takes to make sure you are ok.
Some days can be tough mentally so arm yourself with some defensive measures discussed above to support positive mental health practices. But remember to be kind to yourself and others because you never know what someone is carrying.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
800-273-8255
National Alliance on Mental Health:
Call the NAMI Helpline at
800-950-NAMI
or
chat with us.
In a crisis,
text "NAMI" to 741741