Coping with mental illness has never been easy. There’s a lot involved, including your commitment to mental wellness goals and outside factors such as stigma.
However, with the right routine, tools, and guidelines, you can cope with mental illness. You may wonder what those guidelines are. My battle with mental illness went on for about five years before I found the routine, tools, and guidelines to cope with it.
Take note: These guidelines are based on my personal recuperation from mental illness, hoping to give you some references and routines for coping with this condition.
- Self-attention
- Exercise and meditation
- Read motivational insights
- Listen to uplifting music
- Avoid stress triggers
- Stop smoking and drinking
- Gain knowledge
- Believe in something you can count on
- Express yourself through various channels
- Accept and respond
- Have a positive disposition and avoid procrastination
- Follow routines
- Write something on your wall
- Seek professional help or get yourself into therapy
Self-attention
Self-care is my top priority, and it should be for everyone who wants to move forward and bear the initial pursuit of mental wellness.
Give yourself adequate attention and encouragement to take the first step. This is a cultivated motivation that must come from within. It’s not just you who will benefit from the positive outcome. You’ll also be able to promote this consciousness to other people, so they can also take the path to mental wellness. It should start with you.
Start promoting your self-care by listing all the important actions that can help you find self-worth. Finding self-worth generates an additional drive to appreciate all your efforts and undertakings without any lingering doubts at the back of your mind.
Exercise and Meditation
There is definite satisfaction in exercise and meditation. When we exercise, we release feel-good chemicals, such as endorphins, that promote a positive mindset. Additionally, meditation helps you find inner peace and focus. By doing this activity habitually, you can create an effective routine to cope with mental illness.
Read Motivational Insights
Feeding your mind with healthy knowledge can provide additional aid in gaining positive mental, emotional, and behavioral health. It’s a way to clear a path toward your goals, especially the achievement of mental well-being.
There are relevant books that tackle mental health, focusing on the best methods to promote mental well-being. I usually look for books on Amazon and a bookstore near me. Once a month, I visit bookstores to check new releases in the self-improvement section and all the mental wellness titles.
Listen to Uplifting Music
As we all know, music can induce an invigorating euphoria that stimulates our glee. Listening to music can put a smile on our faces and energize our mood. It is also conducive to our mental health, with the same enlivening effect as exercise.
Avoid Stress Triggers.
Coping with mental illness also means avoiding those factors that can cause you stress. The Bible quote from Proverbs 22 that the wise see danger ahead and avoid it relates to mental health. If we know something can only cause us mental trouble, we should do our best to avoid it.
There are many ways we can be stressed, but choosing to stay calm and peaceful is a gift of the wise. It’s a practice that integrates consciousness and prevention.
Stop Smoking and Drinking
You may often smoke or drink to drown out the stresses of the day. This could mean you are experiencing an impulsive stress response, which indicates a decline in self-care and neglect of physical health.
If you are smoking or drinking to drown out stress, you should stop it now. You are not just compromising your physical health but also putting your mental health at risk, possibly leading to addiction.
There are alternative methods to deal with stress. For example, in the office, you can perform a minute of stretching, exercise, or meditation on your breaks. Do this with proper breathing. Stretching your body parts can divert your thoughts from stress, especially if you are performing proper breathing.
Gain Knowledge
Gaining knowledge involves understanding and finding answers to your questions about mental health. This is the best way to raise awareness about the subject, helping people better understand the importance of mental health to our community and society.
Knowledge is ultimately our best weapon for fighting stigma by representing mental health accurately and openly.
Believe in Something You Can Count On
Following this step doesn’t help unless you believe you can achieve your goal. The key factor in achieving success is to believe it will happen.
You have to believe that something will work. It’s like believing in a creator. You need to have faith and devotion to carry out and follow your objectives.
Express Yourself Through Various Channels
I express my mental health problems through writing. Through this journey, I came to an avocation to raise mental health awareness so people can better understand this area of well-being.
You can express yourself through various creative avenues such as writing, painting and drawing, dancing, singing, writing poems, sports, and much more. You just have to find the right niche and joy you get from doing it. Love of the work is what makes it into a passage for mental health.
Accept and Respond
When I first discovered I have depression and hypervigilance after consulting an expert, I did not follow their advice because I couldn’t accept I had this condition. I denied the illness and continued to live like nothing was happening in me, enduring all the pain. But that was all wrong. I realized that when I cannot contain it inside, I have to accept my situation and confide in others.
After five years, I shared my troubles with my family and friends. The next step after accepting is to respond. Responding means submitting your actions and methods to actually do something about the problem and find relief.
Positive Disposition and Avoid Procrastination
Make it a habit to absorb positive thoughts as much as possible. I know how hard it is to attain an optimistic mindset sometimes, especially with mental illness, where unstable and negative thoughts are inevitable.
But we can come up with positive thoughts even in trying circumstances. A positive disposition is a stronghold for basic cognitive properties. Think of five things that can make your day. That’s what I do instead of dwelling on those that won’t work. Avoid procrastination, keep yourself moving as early as you wake up in the morning, start with meditation, then follow up with exercise until you practice these routines religiously.
Follow Routines
Following and sticking to routines is necessary to accomplish your goals.
Write Something on Your Wall
Sayings on the wall can provide inspirational motivation. Writing a list of motivational quotes on your wall to give guidance and uplifting words can have amazing benefits.
Seek Professional Help or Get Yourself into Therapy.
Most importantly, do not forget to seek help from experts. In my case, I am concerned with how I acquired mental health illness, and have many questions regarding imbalanced emotions and temper. I am keen to know the factors that contribute to this imbalance.
I seek more knowledge about mental health, understanding the various aspects, and learning the complexity of the illnesses. As you spread your mental health awareness to include the experts, you are not just helping yourself to find answers and recuperate; you are encouraging other people to consult professionals as an essential element of mental health support.
Yes, it is hard to fight mental illness initially, but with the right information and tools, you can definitely cope with it.
If you or someone you know experiences mental health issues, it is important to seek help from a qualified professional. Our Resource Specialists can help you find expert mental health resources to recover in your community. Contact us now for more information on this free service to our users.
About the author: Jonathan Ibayan is a content writer, author, and advocate for mental health, dedicated to promoting mental health awareness through blog posts on JonathanIbayan.com. Right now, his main priority is to raise awareness in the diverse spectrum of online platforms.
Resources to Recover and Our Sponsor Laurel House Celebrate Black History Month
February is Black History Month, a time for celebrating the outstanding achievements of Blacks and African Americans and their central role in US history. It is also a time to recognize the struggles Black people have faced throughout our nation's history and give tribute to the strength and resilience of generations of Black Americans who have risen above adversity.
Black History Month originated from an idea by Harvard-educated historian Carter G. Woodson, who wrote the Journal of Negro History in 1916 to herald the achievements of overlooked African Americans in US history and culture. In 1926 he led an effort by the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH) to officially declare the second week of February as "Negro History Week." These dates align with the birthdays of two crucial figures in Black American history: Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809), who signed the Emancipation Proclamation officially ending slavery in the United States, and the Black American abolitionist and author Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818), who escaped from slavery to become one of the most influential civil and human rights advocates of the 19th century. In 1976, President Gerald Ford gave official governmental recognition to the observance by declaring February "Black History Month."
Without the contributions of Blacks and African Americans to more than 500 years of US history, culture, entertainment and the arts, science, athletics, industry and the economy, public service, and the Armed Forces, we would not be the country we are today.
Photo by RODNAE Productions: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-reading-a-book-5530598/
The opinions and views expressed in any guest blog post do not necessarily reflect those of www.rtor.org or its sponsor, Laurel House, Inc. The author and www.rtor.org have no affiliations with any products or services mentioned in the article or linked to therein. Guest Authors may have affiliations to products mentioned or linked to in their author bios.
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