It is so fascinating to see how we have adapted to our new normal in no time. Remember, how shocked and appalled we were when we had discovered COVID-19? It had a huge calling for survival and how it urged me and of course, you all to find different ways to improve your Mental Health, isn’t it?
Someone got stuck with the neighbour’s dog, someone could not order pizza for almost two months? Such a tough situation, right? Just kidding, the ripple effect is going to last longer than we expected. We all have witnessed the biggest shutdown ever and it left me wondering how we are accustomed, as programmed as humans.
So in this blog, let me help you figure out some simple ways which can help you to improve your mental health.
Ways To Improve Your Mental Health You Can Apply Daily
So, I am glad that we could manage to adapt to the new normal. Of course, sometimes it sucks like that old riped banana lying on my dining table right now and the new normal variations are different for different people depending on the end number of factors. But somehow we are still holding on and that’s enough in the given situation. Like, I am going to make a banana shake out of it!
At the beginning of this whole pandemic madness, I thought that I would save the world with little kindness and helpful hacks, so I instantly came up with a 21-Day Meditation Challenge on my personal blog and it really worked, at least for me.
Then I penned down a few blogs, keeping in mind almost every aspect of lockdown, trust me almost! Again to be that survivor’s guide. But this pandemic has become a kind of immortal and is making its way to everyone’s life personally, financially, physically, and emotionally as well. But are we going to stop? Hell NO!
So now if you are done feeding your brain with news updates, binge-watching your favourite series, or logged out of your Zoom meeting, let us discuss some simple ways to improve your mental health and bounce back to your normal. Don’t you miss being you? I DO.
Boost your mental health: Easy steps to follow
During the lockdown, isolation, and quarantine we have seen society’s dependency on technology even more apparent. While it’s amazing and relieving that we can all still more or less accomplish many things we can’t do in person through digital technology, undoubtedly it has increased a lot of screen time in our lives and made our lives open for judgments as well.
Too much screen time not only hurts your productivity but can also prove to be detrimental to your mental health. It leads to social comparisons, insecurities, anxiousness, bullying, and also that need for social validation. It gives us an open view of an unrealistic world with unrealistic expectations and takes away the simple joys of life. Come on!
I personally find digital detox as a wonderful tool to nourish and strengthen your mind to its original state, so beginning with this point, here are my six simple ways to improve your mental health every day:
1. Digital Fasting
Through digital-detox we can try to regain our lost inner balance. Don’t you feel lost traveling from Instagram to Facebook to Twitter then returning back to check what your aunt commented on your niece’s photo? Too tiring! But when you decide to minimize the exposure to limited content you will feel less exhausted.
You may not write or post frequently but most of us have this habit of scrolling social media feeds like Facebook and Instagram and we realize all this information overload has already consumed your one hour, which you could have used to do something else.
Engaging in never-ending notifications and pop-ups on our screens is a guaranteed way to keep our brains continuously stimulated and distracted. Do not use the phone first thing in your morning routine, keep it aside, and begin your day, also try not to use the phone before you go to sleep, remember you have to create a calm and cosy atmosphere before you go to sleep and not an active one.
2. De-clutter your Social Media accounts/contacts
Social media is my workplace, so I have to use it often to promote my work, and to stay connected with my friends and readers. But occasionally, I have come across people who act insensitively and leave their insecurities and anxiounsess in your feed.
Social Media successfully manages to portray the best of a person but in reality, you never know how that person is, it could also lead to issues with self-esteem and comparison. Take some time to segregate what and who makes you feel good and what and who makes you feel bad, and simply cut it out! If you don’t need to be seeing them don’t.
3. Do not go behind the numbers
Now while you are on the spree of spring cleaning your social media accounts and keeping the ones who spark joys in your life and your social media feed. Do not worry about the followers, please. This is all a circus, we all fall prey to.
If you are an influencer/blogger/digital creator, all you have to do is work hard and eventually people will come around and stick to you but people will also leave, they will unfollow, they will even block you. So will you stop working or will you get up and give it back through your work? You are important, your mental health is important, make it your priority, and everything else will fall into place eventually.
4. Do not doubt your selves
There will be times when you will be deeply affected and will lose faith in everything around you and the most amusing part of the human brain is instead of bucking up and giving it back to the doubt giver, it starts to doubt his own master. Yes, YOU!.
You doubt yourself and you start criticizing, and self-loathing, resulting in further damage to your sanity and your confidence level goes to minus. Start being kind to yourself, please. Allow yourself to make some mistakes, allow yourself to speak loudly, raise your voice yet maintain dignity and pride. Allow yourself to cry and complain but the next day, do something about it. Remember no one can take what is yours and no one can give you what already belongs to you.
5. Take one day at a time
I love this practice and it is one of the best ways to improve your mental health. I take one goal at a time, one dream at a time, one day at a time, and even one month at a time. Besides being a mental health promoter, I am a mother too. I have my own duties and priorities and I try to strike the optimum balance everywhere but I also make sure I take enough rest, and I get enough space to learn new things to write about.
I take time to upgrade myself and invest in things that will help me to develop myself even better. recently I published my Hindi Poetry book “Ardhaviram” (semi-colon) which was long due and for that, I posted a few fewer blogs but I don’t follow the rat race just to prove myself. We all have one life and aspire to do so many things, so just take one dream and one day at a time, do full justice to it, enjoy the flavour of success and you can thank me later 🙂
6. Learn something new every freaking day
There is no age to stop learning, learning is a never-ending journey if you are ready to receive more, the world has abundant knowledge to provide. You can pick up yoga or meditation to fill your phone-free hour in the morning, you can pick up a self-improvement book, go for a long walk while listening to a helpful podcast, start journaling, get into gardening, or learn a new skill by enrolling to an online course.
When you decide to take time for little things in life, you will enable yourself to do things you never thought you had time for before. I honestly don’t like it much when people tell me that they don’t get time because no one gets time, we have to take out some time, and we have to snatch time for ourselves.
Pro Tip: You can also give a try to some of the best memory supplements that can help keep your brain sharp. You can always check reputable brands like “Lumultra” to find out the best way to take a certain supplement.
To conclude, I would say that there is always something you can do to nourish your own mental health, you can begin by stopping taking it for granted and start with these simple ways to improve your mental health. Take some deep breaths, and appreciate the nature around you! Your mind will thank you. Stay safe!
Love and light!
