Ready to reinvigorate your mental well-being?
Start with these tips designed to help you cope with stress, trust yourself, and more.
Your Low-Stress Guide to Leveling-Up Your Bedtime Routine
Are You Burnt Out or Depressed?
Thats why, this Mental Health Awareness Month, were taking it back to the basics.
Lets break that down, shall we?
Maybe you do all 31; maybe youll just do one a week.
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Pick what schedule feels right to you and try sticking with it.
Day 1: Make a small wins list
Major life milestones (promotions!
dont come along every dayand thats why celebrating the small stuff is worthwhile.
Were [always] going for bigger, bigger, bigger, she said.
The small win is the thingthat can give us those small boosts throughout the day.
Theyre the things that are often linked to our values, roles, and our goals.
Call to action:Celebrate three small wins today.
(Reminder: No win istoosmall.)
Call to action:Set a five-minute timer and move intuitively until it goes off.
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Not sure what to do?
Well+Good Trends AdvisorDani Pascarella, CFP, founder of the financial wellness platform OneEleven, said it best.
What categories required the most money?
Dont take actionyet, though; well circle back to this on day seven.
Challenge is the site of growth, and growth helps define who we are as people.
Sure, this could looking likerunning a marathonor taking on a hike with several thousand feet of elevation.
Take a walk on the wild side (but stay safe, like).
Call to action:Locate your comfort zone.
Grab your phone and text or call a pal.
Call to action:Humans are social creatures, so go ahead: Drop a line.
Your five senses can help you to re-activate your pleasure centers, says Dr. Datillo.
Taking time to really taste your food has been shown to have great benefits in stress reduction.
Its another form of meditation.
Call to action:Reallythink about what dessert sounds good to you in this moment.Peanut butter brownies?
Pick something that sounds amazing and pay close attention to each bite.
How about a lemon bar?
Day 7: Set some money goals
Remember that spending deep dive we did earlier this week?
Well, its time to translate all that data into goals.
Setting money goalsfor yourself can give you inspiration and help keep your everyday spending on track, says Palmer.
Today, pick two goals, max.
That way, you wont feel overwhelmed or strapped when it comes time to follow through.
Call to action:Set one to two concrete, actionable money goals.
The moment we write it down, we give our brain a break.
Were not holding everything in mind.
Basically, a to-do list is like a giant exhale for your mind.
Call to action:Turn on your favorite playlist and make a list, fam.
I think the words we choose reflect more on us.
Call to action:Start to filter stigmatizing language out of your vocabulary.
Day 10: Break out the crayons and color
Art supplies gathering dust?
Call to action:Paint.
There are three major coping styles: problem-solving coping, emotional coping, and avoidance coping.
While thats a reasonable goal, its ultimately outside of your control.
Call to action:Make one process-based goal.
This gives you an opportunity to say, Do you remember that thing?!
Call to action:Make a digital photo album usingApple PhotosorGoogle Photos.
We should always break tasks down into smaller parts, said Dr. Soph.
When I think about cleaning one area, the tension in my brain decreases.
It feels manageable, and I can be realistic about getting it done today.
Call to action:Take satisfaction in cleaning one small space.
Our lives has been tipped upside down.
Choose four easy rituals and stick to them.
Call to action:Choose four anchors of normality.
Write them down and put them somewhere visible, like in your planner or on your fridge.
Maybe you want toearn a promotion, lead a high-profile project, or take on expanding responsibilities.
(Maybe, you want to do it all at once.)
Be very honest with yourself about what you’ve got the option to accomplish in a day.
And know that no isnt a bad word, and its not a bad thing.
I think its worse when we say yes and then we dont show up and deliver.
Take heart that youre also setting a great example ofboundary-setting for those around you.
And maybe, just maybe, theyll starting feeling empowered to do the same.
Youre finally going to check this off your list.
Then let the satisfaction pour over you.
Call to action:Do the thing youve been meaning to do forever.
Call to action:Make your eco-map.
And maybe advocate for you if they get the chance, she says.
Like many activities we do with our hands, gardening has a meditative quality that stills the mind.
One small study showed thateven just looking at blooms can make you feel more relaxed.
Call to action:Buy one, easy-to-care-for plant or a bouquet of flowers today.
We know thathobbies promote good mental health.
And, in part, its because hobbies are often creative.
Call to action:Try a new hobby and see if its worthy of becoming a habit.
Try it out for yourself today with this30-second technique from Reiki master Kelsey Patel.
Call to action:Identify a moment when youre feeling stress or worried and try EFT.
Call to action:Come up with an affirmationthat feels helpful andcalming for you right now.I am healthy.
I am safe, is one good one.
When we do that with people, the benefits are two-fold.
Afterward, you have something to talk about.
Then, youll be able to huddle up with your team and make a plan for working well together.
Call to action:Tap a coworker for help today.
Worry time is amazing, said Dr. Soph.
Most of us have this kind of free-floating anxiety.
Our brains are negatively skewed, so worries arise all the time.
Use this time to work through anything thats contributing to your anxiety orcatastrophic thinking.
you might even seal the deal by imagining those worries in a container.
[This really orients me] to the fact that it is my choice to revisit those worries.
Call to action:Schedule and complete worry time and dream time.
As in, eight cups of flourer, hours of workequals a day well spent.
Really, says Jackson, we should be measuring our days by the quality of work we whipped up.
(How does that cake taste?)
Get clear on how your work is being measured, says Jackson.
you’re able to practice this motto on a small scale or a large scale.
Or, try something a little more macro.
What does success look like?
That way, youll know whats most deserving of your time.
Community fridges are one way to make an impact on changing that statistic.
you could evenstart a community fridgein your zip code if there isnt one nearby.
Todays the day to do that same thing with your brain.
Collect all your worries and dump them onto a scrap piece of paper.
When we ruminate or worry, our brains are inefficient.
That way, youre symbolically letting go of the clutter in your mind.
Okay, okayso its not that easy to clean house in your head.
And hey, thats something.
Call to action:Brain dump your worries onto a scrap piece of paper and let them go.
Day 30: Create rest goals
So often, our goals are active.
We want to increase our fitness or step it up at work or get better at cooking.
But what if rest goals are the new stretch goals?
(Someone put that on a t-shirt.)
We [Black women] need to give ourselves time to rest, she said.
Sometimes this means literally taking a nap, sometimes this means getting eight hours of sleep.
It means prioritizing yourself even when there is so much work to be done.
Take a moment to consider when you feel the most drained.
Is it after work?
Once youve dropped the kids off at school?
Maybe you go to yoga and lie savasana the whole time, or take the worlds longest bubble bath.
Call to action:Write down what activities are restful and rejuvenating for you.
Carve out space in your calendar to do them.
Now is the time to take stock of the last 30 days.
What tips helped you the most, and what tips just arent a fit for you?
Call to action:Choose what activities are going to fit into your future mental health approach.
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