Managing your bad mental health days can be a challenge, and experimenting with different strategies is going to be the easiest way to find out what method works best for you. As a starting point, try these 3 methods the next time you have a bad mental health day.
- Practice self-care: Engage in activities that promote self-care.
- Connect with supportive people: Reach out to friends or family members who can offer support and understanding.
- Practice mindfulness: Engage in mindfulness practices such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, or yoga to help you stay centred and reduce stress and anxiety.
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Try a few strategies before you have a bad day
There are also things you can do to help reduce your bad mental health days. Just like the above, try different methods to see what works best for you.
- Practice managing negative self-talk: Negative self-talk can lead to negative emotions and feelings of hopelessness and sadness.
- Getting enough sleep every night: going to bed at the same time every night or within half an hour of that time, and waking up at the same time every morning.
- Finding a hobby that brings a lot of thought: Doing an activity where you actively have to think about what you are doing will help to give you some direction.
Developing strong coping skills for bad days
Once you are having a bad mental health day, it's important to look at things that can help you improve your day and mood. Give the following a try and let me know below if any helped you:
- Deep breathing
- Visualization exercises: imagining you are in an environment you find relaxing
- Spend time doing your hobby, the more physical it is the better
- Talk to a loved one: Reach out to someone who has gone through something similar and gain some insight
- Avoid alcohol and drugs: Both change your mood and can exacerbate your bad mental health
Recognizing your mental health triggers is important in order to be able to reduce how many bad days you have and how bad they are. Remember to look at your emotions and changes in your lifestyle to recognise the early stages of bad mental health days.
Another important thing to note is that seeking help in the form of a therapist or counsellor does not mean weakness or mean you are a hopeless cause. Reaching out to a professional means that you are taking your health into your own hands and you want to have the best life for yourself.
*This post is a copy of the original blog post found here
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