How to Become Mentally Healthy

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April is almost over. May will settle in and those who are college students will be enjoying a summer where they will probably work all day, then party all night.

May is also Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States of America, or just America, and I have planned a four wonderful posts about Depression.

But before I get into all of that and I go into my own mental illness as well as how others feel it, I wanted to talk a bit about my dad.

What about him? Well, I was talking to him about my blog and what I was excited to write about and how I was going to do it, when I mention I was going to be talking about depression.

He, as he normally does, looked past me into his thoughts and took a deep breath. He looked at me, thoughts whizzing past and asked me what is mental health?

“It’s such a new topic. We don’t understand exactly what it is and how it affects us.” He asked me again, “what is mental health?”

He also went on about the stigma that surrounds mental health and how everyone assumes that it is about mental illness instead. He suggested that I talk about that as well, but that is a lot of topics to cover in a 500 to 1,000 word post so I won’t be doing that. (sorry, dad)

So, because I wanted to talk about this and I had had planned the whole month in advance. We’re doing this the last week of April.

What is Mental health?

The World Health Organization, or WHO, defines mental health as “… a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

This means that what we do every day without any disorders getting in the way is mental health. In many ways, we can compare what it is like to be mentally healthy with what it is like to be healthy in general. If we are eating right, exercising, and doing well, then we are healthy.

The same goes with mental wellness. If we are doing our best to help our brains be healthy, then we will be able to have mental health.

It seems a little daunting, even with mental illness on the rise, so I have compiled a list to help you guys become mentally healthy, one day at a time.

There are more ways to be mentally healthy, this is my list and resources connected to it.

5 Ways to Be Mentally Healthy

There are many different ways that one can practice mental health. Although we have to constantly keep on working to achieve mental health, like any other health related things it is possible.

Stay Positive

Some of the different ways to stay positive during hard and simple times are to smile, write in gratitude journals, follow your passions, and meditate.

Some of these are easy to do in five minutes, so if you are having a hard day, take five minutes and smile. Or if that doesn’t help you can try to make five different laughs and this would help you smile more.

Some of these you may not want to do, but are beneficial to your health. Writing in a gratitude journal and meditation may be some of these things. I know that they are hard for me because I don’t want to do them, but when I do, it does help.

Get Physically Active

I personally love running. My lungs ,however, do not. This makes it hard for me to do what can make my brain healthy. One thing I don’t think of is doing things that aren’t running.

I personally hate yoga. But yoga is a way that you can achieve mental wellness. While doing yoga is good physically, it also helps mentally because it is a type of meditation. Plus being physically active helps with sleep and can boost your mood.

Serve others

It is really easy to only think of yourself. When I get up in the morning, I think of what I am going to do, and how I am going to do it. It is rare that I think of ways that I can help others.

The truth is that service can help with lowering blood pressure, chronic pain, and can help you live longer. It also helps with your mental health because when you see others feel happy, you feel happy.

Sleep

Sleep can affect you in many ways. If you ask my family, I suffer from too much sleep, but for anyone who thinks that they can stay up till three A. M. and get up at eight, you might be hurting your mental health.

When you have a good night sleep you are more productive during the day and can improve concentration. Not only does it do that, but it can also help you be physically active. Healthline states that “Poor sleeping patterns are strongly linked to depression, particularly for those with a sleeping disorder.” So, get your eight hours in.

Develop coping skills

Learning good coping mechanisms are an essential part of living. When you learn good coping skills, when hard times come you are easily able to take time for yourself and the move on with a smile on your face.

While some coping skills range from watching a movie to exercise. There are some other ones such as painting, writing a list of goals, eating healthy, and talking to someone you trust. There is a great list that I found that I will link here.

Again, there are more ways that you can practice mental health just like there are more ways to become physically healthy. With time and patience with yourself you can overcome whatever you are going through and become stronger because of it.

It always does take time and it won’t always be a straight path but you can do it. I believe in you.