Mental health, even for the best of us, is a constant challenge. These days, we’re facing an onslaught of stresses: most of us are financially stressed, emotionally stressed, socially stressed, physically stressed, and in this particular new cycle, politically stressed.
You may feel like you’re out of time. You’re out of options. You’re out of patience. Some of us are turning to addictions we’ve been battling for years, thinking they may help. Or struggling in relationships. In an effort to face what we think of as outside challenges, many of us are likely also ignoring our own mental health.
But if there’s one thing we need to focus on more than anything else, that’s our own mental health. It’s the only thing any of us can change, and that’s how we can prevail.
There are four simple but tried and true strategies I hold dear and lean on again and again. Not matter what challenge you’re facing, they help in countless ways:
Get Your Consciousness In Order
Staying self-aware is the first step. Self-awareness is key to freeing yourself from challenges and regaining your mental health and equilibrium.
Whether you’re struggling with any kind of addiction (including food), grappling with a challenging relationship or job, or simply struggling with everyday life, make sure you stay conscious of it. Don’t turn away.
Know that it’s a challenge. Resolve to face it and tackle it. Don’t pretend it’s not wearing you down. It is. You owe it to yourself to deal with it, and seek support.
Build A Community
Whatever mental health challenge you’re facing, the most important thing is community. You’re not alone, and having people in your corner is essential.
It could be an online community, it could be an app you join, it could be a weekly meeting. Community will remind you that you’re not just in this by yourself, and can provide positive reinforcement.
Sharing your own struggles, hopes and victories with others gives you a powerful foundation. You’re walking the same walk, you keep each other accountable, and you feel like part of a team. When you falter, you can lean on them. When they falter, you can be there.
Practice Repetition
Consistency is underrated in so many arenas. When it comes to taking care of yourself, staying consistent builds its own momentum, and repetition is a powerful reinforcement.
As you explore more about what’s challenging you, read, and re-read, write things down. Then write them down again.
Make all the information you gather into a personal mantra. When intrusive thoughts, frustrations, and temptations to shortcut a solution take over, go back to the information you’ve learned. Stay the course, and keep doing it.
Exercise And Meditate
Exercise and meditation help get your body and mind right after years of beating them up. Take a brisk walk, practice yoga, take fitness classes, ride a bike, or play with your kids.
Meditation helps quiet your mind, quieting the doubts and concerns that keep looping, and if you’re dealing with any kind of addiction, refuting the lies you’ve accepted so you can avoid facing the problem.
There are great apps for guided meditation (like Headspace) that cost very little. Do its daily guided meditation for ten to twenty minutes, and before you know it you will be a “meditator” just like me. Exercise and meditation also help you clear your body of toxins, whether they’re related to stress, substances, or the negative emotions that keep plaguing you. The freer you are, the more you can focus on your own wellness, and start to thrive.
Final Thoughts
What these four strategies do for you is help you get centered not only within yourself, but in the world. They remind you that actually, your own mental health has to come first, and there are some very essential, powerful ways to bolster it. Practice them to become the best version of yourself – with your own self, with your loved ones, with your community. Next time you want to put yourself last, do the opposite. Your mental health depends on it.
Author Bio
Dustin Dunbar, an Independent, is running for U.S. presidency. As founder/CEO of FreeHealthInsuranceHelp.com (since 2009) and division manager for HealthMarkets before that, he’s assisted tens of thousands of Americans. He founded the wellness non-profit AlcoholFreeRevolution.org, is a real estate entrepreneur, was an appraiser for First Alliance Mortgage, and modeled for Ford Model Agency. He holds a PhD in psychology from Saybrook University. His books include You’re Doing Great! And Other Lies Alcohol Told Me, Her Holiness, and Make America Whole Again: A Blueprint for Leading the AI Age, Empowering Global Security, and Reuniting the Nation. Learn more at Dustin-Dunbar.com.