Why you must build a strong Mental Health

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide due to his mental health illness, has shaken all of us. Not only was this news shocking but heart wrenching. This unfortunate incident brought the whole nation in extreme sadness. No one knows the exact reason for Sushant’s suicide except that he was fighting with depression. Can you imagine the state of mind where a person can actually take his own life?

Actress Deepika Padukone also talked about a phase of her life where she was going through major depression. Deepika also did a video where she explained why mental health is so important and how to cope up with mental health issues. Therefore, we must take mental health seriously and learn how to improve mental health especially in this digital era.

Table of content

• Why Mental health Matters
• My experience with mental health problems
• Ways to Improve Mental health

Why Mental Health Matters?

One needs to understand and respect the need for mental health education and resources. Instead of being insensitive or take it for granted, we should discuss about it more openly. I am not an expert here but I did my research and tried my best to understand it before I could suggest something. All of us should have mental health goals as we have for our physical health. Because, experts are saying that in near future, most of us will suffer from mental health issues.

The continuation of feeling sad and hopeless for a longer period are vicious to our mental health. As a result, such feelings, moods and behaviour can turn into mental health illness( if not taken care of). That is why you should keep a check on your mental health and work harder these days to ensure a strong mental health.

My experience with Mental Health Problems.

My close friends have gone through anxiety and depression. And, one of them was the same friend I talked about (who can’t drive) in my last post –14 Skills to learn to be an Adult.

I studied psychology in college that has helped me understand human behavior and mental disorders. For this reason, I was the only one who could handle her in all situations while her family couldn’t. Although, it was heartbreaking for me listening to what she was feeling, seeing her crying and being hopeless about the future.

I remember one incident when I was driving my car and suddenly, a panic wave attacked my friend. With immediate effect, I stopped the car to help her in controlling the panic attack. Her hands were sweaty, her breathing was shallow, her body was shaking and she was not able to say a word. After giving her water, I asked her to deep breath slowly and somehow, I managed to calm her down.

Ways to improve Mental health

Since then, I have been keeping a track on my mental health (after experiencing it so closely with my friends) and I believe you should too. Moreover, it’s like any physical illness and should be handled with utmost care and sensitivity. My friend has been practicing the below mentioned tips and thankfully, her mental health has improved drastically. Therefore, how to build a strong mental health.

1. Connect with your loved ones

Isolation is dangerous to mental health and loneliness can result in anxiety or depression. You will be surprised to know that more people than ever feel isolated in this digital age when most of us are living on our own away from our families.Reach out to your loved ones who support you and understand you without any judgement. This can help you get rid of that burden you have been carrying alone.

• Talk to them openly
• Express yourself to them
• Share your thoughts and feelings
• Tell them what’s bothering you

2. Accept and Forgive yourself.

Nobody is perfect, neither me nor you and that’s the only truth. It’s ok to not be ok and to feel weak but what’s not OK is to give up on yourself. You need to understand that we all have flaws and we make mistakes, we fall and we rise again.

• Accept yourself and say out loud that it is just a phase and you will get over it.
• Write down what all you like about yourself and your life.
• Remind yourself that ‘I am strong and I can work on my weak areas’.
• Be kind to yourself like you’re to others.
• Forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes.

3. Meditate and practice breathing techniques

Meditation helps you calm your mind down and clear your thoughts. Like we exercise to keep our body fit and healthy, meditation is essential for mental health. It is an exercise for your mind to relax and release toxic thoughts.

• Download the meditation guided apps
• Play the relaxing music to focus
• Set a corner in or close to nature
• Light up an aroma candle
• Keep windows open for fresh air

4. Stay away from NEWS & Social Media

This is a well known fact that most NEWS channels are only selling political propaganda and fake news. Similarly, social media is selling us a dream of perfectionism. From makeup, fashion, food, travel, to lifestyle, it is all about having perfect body, perfect friends, perfect partner, in short perfect life. Over time, we start to dislike ourselves and start to believe that we are not good enough. These negative informations have very strong impact on our thoughts.

• You need to stay positive and away from anything or everything that is affecting your calmness and peace of mind.
• Take only positives from social media, you can take inspiration, learn something new and forget everything else on it as it is mostly a SCAM.

5. Spend time in Nature

Nature has a secret magic ingredient to heal anything and everything in life. Since, we spend most of our times inside our air conditioned apartments, offices and even gyms, we don’t realize that our mind and body is not getting its daily doze of sunlight and fresh air from the nature.

Everyday I drag myself out to sit in the garden to soak sunlight and breath fresh air to come back refreshed, happy and positive.

Our bodies are designed to be living around nature to function properly and lack of it, is the root cause we are having physical and mental health issues. You need to make an effort to spend some time in nature especially greenery or water body and sunlight.

6. Seek Professional Help

The more you evade what’s building up inside the deeper its roots will run. If you feel you’re not getting better or feeling any good after trying everything then consider consulting mental health professionals and take therapy. These are extremely fruitful and have given new life to millions of people suffering from mental conditions.

7. Eat Healthy and Exercise

Your physical health and mental health are interconnected. Therefore, you need to maintain a good physical health in order to keep good mental health. Eat fresh, healthy and timely. Adding Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet can benefit you as they help in decreasing depression.

Go for a run, practise yoga, do intensive or mild workout, do what suits you the best. You can’t achieve a good mental health without exercising regularly.

8. Find Joy in little things

What I have learned from my experience is that happiness comes more easily when you feel good about yourself without feeling the need of anyone’s approval. I find my happiness and peace of mind in small things.

• Warm shower or bubble bath once a week
• Gardening or plantation
• Listen to your fav music
• Dance while doing house chores
• Paint or play music instrument
• Play with a furry friend( animals)
• Experiment with a new recipe
• Smile in front of the mirror
• Compliment yourself

I hope this post has given you something to think over and inculcate in your life, please take care of your and your loved ones mental health. If you like this post, please like, share and comment and follow for such informative and personal development posts from me which will add value to your life.