Mental Health Tips and Reminders to Start 2024 – My Brain’s Not Broken

Hello associates, and Happy New Year! Since I’ve written a number of New Year’s posts on this weblog, I believed I’d attempt my hand at it once more in 2024. In previous years, my messages across the new 12 months have assorted enormously. Early on on this weblog’s historical past, I wrote about my rejection of New Year’s resolutions and the strain they placed on us. A number of years in the past, I mirrored on how I’d like to begin the brand new 12 months off proper. And final 12 months, I mirrored on how I needed to method 2023. In studying these posts, I’ve come to see the methods I’ve modified (and sure, grown) within the years of penning this weblog. This 12 months, I’d like to take the main target off me and put it again on psychological well being. There are some ways we are able to attempt to develop within the new 12 months, however how can we do it with our psychological well being? Here are 5 psychological well being ideas as you construct and develop your psychological wellness in 2024.

Start the place you’re.

When it comes to psychological well being and wellness, it’s necessary to know the place to begin. And the very fact is, we’re all at totally different factors on our psychological well being journeys — and that’s okay. Not solely is it okay, nevertheless it’s accurately. I can’t let you know what number of instances I grew annoyed once I would fail at one thing associated to my psychological well being whereas seeing another person succeed. I believed I used to be doing one thing fallacious when actually, it simply wasn’t the correct time for me. Now is the time for an sincere evaluation: how is your psychological well being? Are you prioritizing it in the best way you deserve? This appears to be like totally different for everybody, so it’s necessary to be sincere and open with your self.

Awareness is simply step one.

One of a very powerful issues I’ve realized about psychological well being is that once we uncover one thing about ourselves we’d like to work on, it doesn’t magically go away. That’s usually when the true work begins. Many of us have skilled cognitive distortions, destructive ideas and different psychological well being challenges for years with out absolutely understanding what they’re. Awareness is efficacious, nevertheless it’s not a treatment. Once I accepted this, it was simpler to transfer ahead.

There shall be bumps within the street.

There’s a standard false impression that after somebody begins engaged on their psychological well being, life will get…simpler, let’s say. Or that we’ve “fixed” the issue as a result of we’ve acknowledged that one thing isn’t accurately. And whereas we should always give folks their flowers for selecting themselves and prioritizing psychological well being, I wouldn’t need somebody to assume that’s all they’ve to do. There shall be bumps alongside the best way, the identical manner there are for therefore many issues we do in life. Mental well being is a lifelong journey, and accepting that there shall be each ups and downs helps in the long term.

Find methods that work for YOU.

This level is essential to me as a result of it’s certainly one of my core beliefs surrounding psychological well being. In the tradition we’ve created, issues develop into well-liked after they work for a large variety of folks, which may create unrealistic expectations. I can’t let you know what number of instances I’ve gotten annoyed with a “life hack” or “mental health tip” that appeared to work for so many individuals – however not me! It’s taken a very long time to come to the understanding that I don’t want to discover issues that “work”; I want to discover what works for me. Once I shifted that lens, I used to be ready to focus extra on myself, making my psychological well being extra manageable.

Not all the pieces is related to you – and that’s okay

This is comparable to what I simply wrote, however I’d like to elaborate as a result of it’s an necessary level to make. Not all the pieces we study psychological well being shall be related for us. There are so many various ideas and tips, numerous diagnoses and methods to consider psychological well being and wellness, and numerous methods to method all these challenges. While you do need to focus by yourself psychological well being, seeing the larger image is extraordinarily useful for everybody. Mental well being impacts everybody, and the extra we join the dots, the extra we are able to see the way it helps form the world round us.

Now, over to you! What psychological well being ideas would you want to share as we begin one other new 12 months? Let me know within the feedback beneath!