Lifestyle | Simple and Nurturing Habits to Improve Your Mental Health

May is mental health month, and there’s no better way to prepare for the sunshine ahead than to give yourself a proper mental health boost. In between hectic days and stressful weeks of work, it can be difficult to find time to yourself without feeling almost guilty about it. Yet, by treating yourself a bit extra, you will actually have so much more energy - which means, of course, the ability to go that extra mile at work or at home.

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Here is a handful of great habits you should implement right away for a more energised you and a much brighter smile.

Learn to focus on only one thing

The ability to do a lot at once and working ourselves flat is for some reason worn as a badge of honour these days. Not able to talk on the phone while simultaneously making dinner, planning tomorrow’s schedule and telling the kids to stop bothering each other? 

Somehow, that translates to being bad at multitasking rather than being a normal human being. Besides, doing a lot at once is quite bad for your stress levels and your mind would be a lot calmer and efficient if you allowed it to simply focus on one task at a time. 

The people who brag about having way too much to do are also talking about mindfulness and meditation; it’s like they’re not able to make up their mind - probably due to all that multitasking. Start by paying less attention to them and shift your focus to what you are doing, at the moment, instead. Take in the sensations around you, the way your body responds to it, and give yourself a chance to breathe. It will feel so much better.

Learn to be grateful and giving

Alright, you are probably a very grateful person already - yet, what about the small things? Not to force-feed you all that hippie-talk about being appreciative and taking a moment to smell the flowers but still; try to notice that you actually have a lot to be grateful about. Some people like to write this down and, while you’re welcome to join them, it’s enough to simply take a break, do nothing for a few minutes, and just enjoy the act of living.

The road to being actually happy starts by giving and helping others without expecting anything back. End the mental health month in the best way possible by giving someone you appreciate a gift, for example, and have a look at this site for some unique and unusual gifts. It might not come back to reward you, in the end, or even give you any karma points but it will make you and the receiver feel a lot better. 

Learn to love exercise

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that an excellent habit for a healthy mind involves exercise. Yoga was, in fact, meant to calm your mind and get you ready for meditation; by pairing your breath with movements, it’s supposed to remind you to calm down if you push yourself too hard and feel out of breath. It’s quite the opposite idea from the western variations of power yoga, right? 

While you can try to use it the same way before meditation, a strenuous exercise is also good for your mind, though, and you shouldn’t shy away from being a bit out of breath. Treat yourself to a hard exercise a couple of days per week and do a calmer session to prepare yourself for meditation, for example. It’s the best of both worlds.

Remember to take breaks

A good break involves everything from getting a deep and energizing night of sleep to stepping away from work for a chat with a coworker. When you are out of shape in terms of listening to yourself and reducing stress, you need to learn to spot the signs of mental fatigue - and believe it or not, this can be quite difficult for some. It’s kind of like when you get completely absorbed in a project and forget about time and space, just that these people have it like this every single day. 

Go to bed at the same time every day, step outside of the office when it’s time for lunch and give yourself the chance to chat with others. Even if you don’t have anything to say - just let them talk about themselves, people love that stuff.

If life is all about being happy and making other people happy, it can sometimes seem like society has it all wrong. Take a break from it all and remember that you’re not meant to do everything at once. 

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