Welcome back, I’d like to explain another of my words, part of my 3 H’s, and something I’m obviously striving for, because it’s the topic of my entire blog, the word is healthy.
Health is a huge one for me, as someone who grew up with a parent with multiple serious illnesses, mostly brought on by neglecting to care for their bodies properly, I feel very strongly about it.
Still, I don’t just mean physical health, and I don’t mean just being skinny, I mean true mental, physical and emotional health. These three things, although different, all affect each other in various ways. A poor diet can affect our moods and energy levels, depression can cause us to overeat, or not eat enough.
I’d like to break down each of these categories of health, and give you simple tips to help you be more conscious of how you’re caring for yourself.
Mental Health
Take a good look at your relationships.
Consider people you spend time with, friends, family, romantic relationships, and even coworkers. Everyone has those people who make them feel badly after interactions, so maybe take a moment to try and think of ways you can improve your interactions with them, and if that doesn’t seem feasible, then maybe limit the time you spend with them.
Spend more time with people who make you feel good.
At the same time, those people you do have fun with, try to make more of an effort to reach out. Sometimes I even will put a notification on my calendar to send people a message to check in with them. This might seem..forced, but in reality I think of these people often, But much of the time I’m busy, so even if the thought occurs to me to send them a message or give them a call, I forget when I do have the time. Once a week, try to go have lunch, or spend a bit of time with the people you care for that put you in a positive mind set.
Boundaries
Not having boundaries has been a huge part of what digs away at my mental health throughout my life. I’m not an extrovert at all, in fact I prefer having large chunks of alone time throughout my day, and being in control of what I do. Growing up, especially in my family, being outgoing and talkative were traits that were valued and celebrated. Plenty of people often commented on me being shut up in my room all the time, but I never have truly felt comfortable being around people for long periods of time. Part of my boundaries is having a set time through the day when I don’t answer my phone, or my door, and I say no very often now. To some it may seem rude, or even annoying, but this is a boundary for my own mental health that means when my time comes around that I must deal with people, and answer the phone or door, I don’t feel drained or overwhelmed by all the noise.
Anxiety/Angry Journaling.
Much of the time, anxiety is more of an imagined fear of something, or an over reaction. All day long I cook and clean, and I have always been..a bit particular about where things are put in the house. All day long, I have this collection of little annoyances and fears. So, at the end of my day I have gotten the habit of journaling. I’ll write down what upset me, why, and if there is a solution. If the why doesn’t make sense, or there is no solution, I then move onto trying to decide how I can react better, or learn to let it not affect me so well.
Eating at the right times.
Our diet can have a huge impact on how we feel. Junk foods can make us feel good because they taste good, but not long after we eat these things, we often feel lethargic, bloated and overall pretty crappy. This lack of energy and sleepy kind of overall sluggishness can make us sleepy and unproductive, making our day that much harder to get through. Eating a good balanced diet, and making sure we eat enough can really improve our mental health. it seems like starving has been sort of glorified, but eating when were actually hungry can make a huge impact on our mental health.
Physical health
Exercise
Exercise is not just to lose weight, and just losing weight should never be a goal. A number on the scale, or the size of your clothing shouldn’t be the only reason you become more active. Moving around boosts your mood, and has so many more health benefits than just a slimmer waistline. Being more active can improve circulation, joint health, complexion, endurance and so much more.
Proper nutrition
It’s no secret amongst the people who know me that I don’t like the keto diet, I don’t support weight loss supplements, or anything that suggests you should trick your body. Our bodies are not the enemy, and we should focus on giving it what it needs to run right. This means, eating 3 balanced meals a day.
Rest
In our modern world, it seems lack of sleep or over sleeping is being glorified. As if to say that, if we’re all running around like zombies, we must be getting a bunch done through the day. In all reality, most of us lose sleep because we can’t put down electronics in time to get our full 8 hours. On the other hand being a “sleepy girl” Is now seen as cute, waking up late and rushing seems trendy. 8 solid hours of sleep should be the goal, and naps should not be daily routine, as it can make it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep at night.
Emotional Health
Taking Breaks
Taking breaks is a huge one for me, and several times it has almost cost me all the good I’ve done this past year. Break is important, because people burn out is real, even when it means taking a break from something you love or feel passionately about. Make sure you have daily breaks, and down time, and that every so often you take a step back from your life over all. A year ago, I flipped my whole life around, I was tired of being so unhappy with everything, and feeling like my life was going nowhere. So, literally in the matter of a week, I began getting up between 3:30 and 4, Adding in exercise, all of the house cleaning for 2 other adults and a teenager, I really focused on being productive throughout the day, I started to really get into learning to cook, and cooked 3 meals a day everyday except monday. Although I enjoyed this new life I was building, after about 4 months..I just had such a hard time making myself do it every single day. Slowly, going into the kitchen to try out a new recipe didn’t inspire me, it was tedious. Trying to inspire and motivate my hamsters was so hard, I noticed how short and irritable I was getting with them..and several times I even gave up.
What have I learned from that? Well, If you’re trying your best…and I mean really getting up every morning and giving it your all, you need a significant break and step back. So now, every 3 months, myself and my whole house takes a 3 day break, we all step back, reflecting, and give ourselves a few days to just be and not expect so much of ourselves.
Don’t hold yourself to the standards of others.
Because of facebook, instagram and all the endless social outlets we have available to us, comparing ourselves to others has become a huge weigh down of our emotional health. Keep in mind that our standards of living are all different, our lows and highs are as unique as we are and some people just don’t have the same ideas of success.
Don’t take yourself too seriously
Growth and learning are huge lifts for emotional health, and planning goals can bring a serious sense of accomplishment, even if their small seeing that you have completed even little tasks can truly give you a sense of pride that makes you want to get more done. At the same time, learning and trying new things should be a constant part of our lives, what comes with new? Failure, imperfections, clumsiness..and all those normally negative emotions we associate with not doing something just as we had imagined. However..new is messy. New is hard and unfamiliar and we rarely try to learn something new without looking silly and making mistakes, so learning to laugh it off and not expect perfection from ourselves can help us along in all our new ventures.
Thats all my advice for our second H, hope you enjoyed this bit, let me know what you thought!
GettingOurShitTogether 