Navigating the Mind: My Journey to Mental Wellness
As 2023 is about to end, I sat down to write at least one article before this year ends. I had been thinking about what to write and several ideas crossed my mind, but this year has been full of surprises and struggles. I have seen many highs, I am extremely grateful for the support , proud of my achievements, but I have also witnessed drastic lows, changes, and bad mental health phases. I have also seen some of my close friends and family members go through extreme lows due to heartbreak, family disputes, physical health, difficulty getting a job in the current market, losing a parent, and loneliness studying/working in a foreign country.
Being an emotional and sensitive person, I often get low easily and suffer a lot even when a close friend or family member is going through a difficult time. However, learning to protect your emotional health is important, if you want to support the people around you.
I recently came across an Instagram post (attached in the image below) by Jay Shetty, which struck a chord with me. In the rest of this article, I share a few suggestions that have been helping me the past few months as I am navigating through some tough decisions, and changes in my life.
- Understand what makes you happy
Writing this feels like stating the obvious, but it is something that a lot of us overlook. We have become so busy in our lives that we have forgotten the simple things that used to give us joy during our childhood.
Be an observer of your own life for a day and notice the things that brighten you up and things that suck energy from you. I started experimenting with new things and simply observing when I was experiencing joy. It helped me understand things that uplift my mood.
2. Music
The above image is derived from an Instagram story uploaded by my sister who can dance as instantly as the music drops and is also an amazing singer.
For me, music has been a game-changer, I have always loved music, but I used to sing in childhood. As for today, I am not the best singer and my friends would agree, but recently, I have started listening to old songs and singing every day for 15 minutes. I have realized that it is one of the happiest moments of the day for me.
Music has proven to be effective in uplifting my mood. It releases some kind of happy hormones in my body. Music is a common theme that a lot of people in my circle use when they are feeling low.
3. Talk to friends/family who you can trust
There are times when your judgment is clouded, you don’t feel like getting out of bed, and you are not able to think straight. Having one or two people in your life whom you can call at any time, who will listen no matter what, and not judge you for being weak in the moment is a blessing.
Having DMCs ( deep meaningful conversations) with my friends is crucial for me to reflect on my life. I have come to understand about my emotions better by interacting with my friends . They call out my bullshit and give me tough love whenever required 😉
4. Journal
Having friends and family to turn to when you are stressed is natural. But I want to put it out there to everyone, every person has their share of problems. We often put too much expectations on our friends to help us with our grief, and our problems. Only we can get over our pain, and no one else can solve the problems in our lives. Don’t call your friends for “Emotional Dumping”, dumping all your emotions on one person. It is not fair to the other person. I saw myself relying too much on my friends Dishani and Yashika and felt bad about my unhealthy patterns.
When you are unable to control your emotions and overthinking loop, try journaling. Journaling allows you to pen down all your haphazard thoughts in mind onto a paper. If I am having a panic attack or completely losing my shit, I simply write everything down. It does not solve the problem always, but it helps me organize my thoughts and understand what I am thinking.
5. Help Others
When you are consumed by your pain, everything seems pointless. However, just take a look around you and see, there are thousands of people struggling in life.
Coming from India, if you just step out of your house, you will see people suffering on the roads, and that makes me question every time, what did I do to deserve so much privilege? I use this thinking to get out of my pain and simply count my blessings.
A simple way to distract yourself from your pain is to help other people in life. An act of kindness that puts a smile on someone’s face is the most noble thing in the world for me.
As we are in the holiday season, it is not a great time for everyone, many people are alone during this time, away from family, away from friends. Please try to bring the Christmas cheer to everyone’s life :)
6. Spirituality
Sitting in the temple and singing the praises of the Lord can transport me to a happier state immediately. Even if you are not spiritual, try visiting a temple, the positive vibes in a temple can improve your consciousness. Listening to spiritual chants is another way to improve your mood.
In the past month, I have gone to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi thrice. One day, I went with my dad and sat there for an hour trying to understand the shabad (songs for God).
Recently, I went to dinner with my family, I posted the pictures on the gram, but the best memory of the day was the journey to the hotel. In the car, all 5 of us sang prayers and chanted the “Hare Krishna” mahamantra.
7. Just Move
Working a 9–5 can make you slow, and lazy as you are always glued to a screen. It is important to keep your body moving. As James Clear says in Atomic Habits, “Action Creates More Action”.
It is difficult to get out of bed, let alone exercise when one is feeling low, however, it is important to start, the motivation grows once we are already engaged.
When I am experiencing brain fog, which happens quite a lot if I don’t drink enough water and spend too much time on screens, I have to start moving to stimulate the blood flow. I have started stretching, walking, dancing, and aerobics to stimulate the endorphins.
There are many other things that I am experimenting with such as following a routine, reflecting on my mistakes, setting healthy boundaries, avoiding thinking traps, and many others I want to try such as “Staying away from Social Media”. It always works for me but Instagram is a tough nut to crack.
The idea of this story was to share some of the things that have helped me recently and if anyone can benefit even slightly from my learnings, I am a winner here.
Please share in the comments how you protect your mental health!
Happy Holidays to everyone reading this.
Thank you for your time!
