DIY Guide: Improving your Mental Health

Just like physical health, your mental health needs taking care of every day. This can be done in many ways, and it’s important to find the ways that work for you. I’ll be sharing some things you can do to keep your mental health in check and give yourself a boost if you’re struggling, but sometimes we need a bit more help and in those times it’s important to speak to your doctor or a therapist - just like you would if your physical health wasn’t getting any better after home remedies.

Plan in advance
The more decisions we have to make in a day, the harder it becomes to make good choices, or even make decisions at all. This is called ‘decision fatigue’ and the affect can be heightened when dealing with mental health issues such as depression. This is why it can be hard to decide what to have for dinner after a busy day at work. Reduce the amount of simple decisions you make during the day by creating a meal plan and shopping in advance, getting your clothes out the night before, and having a daily routine.
Make yourself a daily routine
Following on from decision fatigue, taking away the morning decisions by having a routine that you can run on autopilot can make mornings a lot easier. Even just having a set time to wake up and deciding to never snooze your alarm, removes that first decision in the morning and doesn’t leave you battling whether to get up or have an extra 10 minutes in bed. I can’t stress how much having a routine has helped me - and I know I have to be quite strict with it to keep my mental health in check.
Keep an eye on your social media use
Social media has some amazing advantages for keeping us connected - particularly this year! - and there’s some amazing accounts sharing advice and speaking honesty about mental health, but if you’re mindlessly scrolling first thing in the morning or last thing at night, you’re giving away the most important parts of your day that set up your mood, to outside sources. This is particularly true if you follow people who make you feel bad, who you compare yourself to or who post things that make you angry. Take a look at your relationship to social media, and see if you need to change the type of accounts you follow, or maybe limit the time you spend on it.

4. Practice good boundaries

Know when you need to say no, and when you need to take a step back from people or situations who are draining your energy. You will need different boundaries in your work life, personal life and in your relationships, and it can be hard to enforce them at first, but you’ve got to take care of yourself first and the people who respect and love you will accept that (if they don’t, it might be an idea to take a look at that relationship).

6. Prioritise ‘boring’ self-care

Self-care is always instagram worthy, it’s not always brunch, face-masks and bubble baths. Often the most important self care is taking a shower, eating a proper cooked meal or getting a decent nights sleep. It sounds simple but it’s amazing the difference it can make when you take care of your basic needs first.

8. Let yourself feel the feels

I truly believe there’s so much power in optimism, positive thinking and seeing the good where you can, but this doesn’t mean pretending that negative situations and emotions don’t exist. Life can be good and worth celebrating even with the presence of mental illness, grief, heartbreak and injustice. Life is complex - positive and negative go hand in hand at all times. If you need to take a day and just be sad - do it. Eat good food, watch crappy films and turn yourself into a blanket burrito. You can try again tomorrow.

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash — Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Your mental health is as individual as you are, so it’s really important to learn what’s normal for you and what works for you. I’ve shared some further resources below if you need some extra help, and remember it’s common, but it’s not normal, to feel consistently bad, and there are many options for help and it can get better, so if you notice things aren’t getting any better for a while, it might be worth visiting your doctor or looking into counselling or another form of therapy.