Life can be tough sometimes, weighing you down until you feel stuck or helpless.
While many adults experience some form of depression or anxiety from time to time, constant negative feelings should not be overlooked.
If you’ve been going through an especially difficult time, it’s in your best interest to embark upon a mental health journey.
This is the road to identifying problems and coming up with positive solutions. Take charge of your mental health and keep reading for four tips on how to do this effectively.
Article Contents
1. Perform A Self-Assessment
Being self-aware is an important first step in your mental health journey. This allows you to detect changes in your feelings and monitor your own wellbeing.
To do this, undergo your own personal check-in by asking yourself questions. How are you really feeling, and what have your stress levels been like? How often are you feeling down, angry, or tired?
Make sure you’re being completely honest with yourself, otherwise this assessment is moot. As they say, the first part of getting help is admitting you have a problem.
You can’t even help yourself if you don’t accept the truth of your emotions. And depending on your answers to these questions, you might want to take further action.
2. Set Boundaries
Boundaries are incredibly important for any type of relationship, whether platonic or romantic.
These are essentially barriers you set up to stop someone from interfering too much in your life.
For a romantic example, you might feel uncomfortable with public displays of affection. If your partner violates this, they’re crossing a line.
When it comes to boundaries with friends, this might involve how much time you spend together or how much information you share. Telling secrets to the wrong person can erode trust.
Putting these figurative walls up until you know someone better can save you heartache and time.
Additionally, making sure you’re equally paying attention to each other’s needs shows mutual respect and appreciation.
You don’t have to put someone else’s needs before your own, either, and don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise.
Having boundaries helps you establish what you’re comfortable with, and can reveal to you who really respects you.
If someone deeply cares about you, they’ll respect your wishes no matter what. Start setting these boundaries, and allow yourself to say no when someone asks to overlook these rules. This is a crucial step in prioritizing your mental health needs.
3. Develop Coping Skills
Being able to cope with stressful situations is a vital skill that will help you throughout your life.
This involves utilizing mental techniques that allow you to process negative emotions or scenarios in a positive way.
Without effective coping mechanisms, these nerve-wracking circumstances could play out scarier or more stressful than they need be.
Learning how to take control of your feelings in these moments will help you get through them, and it can empower you.
Some common coping skills include lowering expectations, asking for help, and challenging negative thoughts.
Another popular method is using distraction to temporarily distance yourself from stress until you’re able to process it.
However, this can get dangerous if you continue to push your feelings away. Part of coping is embracing harsh realities and overcoming negativity.
For in-the-moment scenarios, grounding is a great technique to calm you down. This involves focusing on what’s around you, rather than the negative thoughts plaguing your mind.
Some techniques involve deep breathing, aromatherapy, and going for a walk. Another great method is the 5-4-3-2-1 technique:
- Five things you can see
- Four things you can touch
- Three things you can hear
- Two things you can smell
- One thing you can taste
You can either think of random items to fit these categories or find real objects in your surroundings.
4. Seek Professional Help
Sometimes you can do everything possible to help yourself, but something is still missing — and that’s perfectly normal.
Knowing when to get assistance can be empowering as well. Seeking out professional help could be what you need, and the two main forms are medication and therapy.
Medication
Antidepressants can provide an extra boost for managing your emotions. These work by altering the brain’s chemistry, usually through certain hormones, to make you feel happier.
This is especially helpful if depression or anxiety run in your family, meaning they’re probably hereditary chemical imbalances. This would make you more prone to experience mental health issues.
One of the most commonly-prescribed forms of antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
These function by stopping the body from prematurely absorbing the hormone serotonin, which is known to be connected to positive moods.
When serotonin lasts longer in the body, you can better feel its effects and experience more uplifted moods.
Some of the most well-known SSRIs are Lexapro, Prozac, and Zoloft. Remember to talk with your healthcare provider to find the best fit for you.
Therapy
Talking to a therapist or counselor is another step in the right direction on your mental health journey.
Licensed professionals have gone through years of education and training in the field, meaning they know how to help.
They can identify problems, help you strategize solutions, and be a great support system to check in with.
Speaking with trusted friends and family can feel helpful, but they’re not experts.
Unfortunately, you might receive some bad advice since they don’t necessarily understand your situation the way a professional would.
That doesn’t mean you can’t talk to both, however. Having a healthy support system of friends or family and a professional can be a recipe for positivity.
Prioritize Yourself
Undergoing any type of mental health journey can be full of ups and downs. Learning how to still have good moments in between the bad can be challenging.
However, this is definitely a challenge worth tackling. Remember to put your needs first as you learn how to champion your mental health.
Say no, set boundaries, use coping skills, and accept help when needed. It may take some time, but it’s worth working on yourself.
