CELEBRATING MENTAL HEALTH DAY - WHY IT MATTERS

October 10 is a date of great importance in the world calendar. It's the day we come together to celebrate Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHealthDay a day dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues, reducing stigma, and promoting better mental well-being for all.

World Mental Health Day is a day when we reflect on how to take care of our mental health.

Do you also think that you got it as a gift and you don't have to take care of it? Or have you found that mental problems will never affect YOU?

Before I start proving to you that the line between health and disease can be slim, please take a look at these few tricks. Today I have 10 ways for you to take care of your mental health. Think of them as habits that are good to start implementing. In addition to peace of mind, you can additionally support your pursuit of happiness. It would be nice to just enjoy life. Regardless of the moment, circumstances, and difficulties.

Additionally, in this article, we will explore why Mental Health Day is so important and the key role it plays in our society.

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1. TALK ABOUT FEELINGS

A mentally healthy person is aware - knows what is happening inside, is aware of what is experienced, and often knows what triggers emotions. You look at such a healthy person and you are sure that he allows himself a moment of reflection. Wonders, and then he talks about his feelings:

I love you

I'm afraid

I feel lost

I'm so happy

I feel bad

How often do you talk about your feelings?

Now think about how easy it is for you to show love (to your partner, child, mother, or grandmother) - you say it directly, you show it with gestures, or you cannot express what you feel at all.

Are you ashamed?

Think about fear, anxiety, dissatisfaction, and doubt – how do you deal with expressing these emotions? How do you feel when you admit weakness or imperfection?

Start talking about the heart instead of the mind. Instead of "I think..." use "I feel like...". Find out what it's like to communicate using the language of emotions. Talking about feelings is uplifting, allows you to strengthen bonds with people, and is a chance to get to know yourself. Let yourself do it - at most someone will think that you feel something!

Exercise: Take a piece of paper and a pen and write down all the emotions you remember from the past week. Remember what you felt – name it. Was it regret? Embarrassment? Fear? Start by recording your feelings, and then think about how you could tell someone close about them.

After writing down all your emotions, look at the emotion wheel and fill in the missing ones.

Purpose of the exercise: The key to expressing emotions is to become aware of them. Observe what feelings arise in you, write them down, and analyze them.

2. SET BIG AND SMALL GOALS FOR YOURSELF TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH REGULARLY

A life without purpose is difficult - so if we know this, why not make our existence easier in some way? Setting long-term goals (e.g. for 5 years) puts your life in a certain framework - you define yourself as a parent (because you want to spend the next years taking care of children), a student (because you are starting a new scientific chapter and want to fulfill yourself in it) or runner (because you decided you wanted to live from one marathon to the next).

You build your sense of security, and you know what your reference point is - thanks to these long-term goals, you can set smaller goals for yourself effectively and sensibly.

That's right - smaller-scale goals (for a year, half a year, a quarter) allow you to capture moments and also achieve long-term goals.

If you know you want to move to Canada in 2 years, you work for 5 years to get there. Nothing will just happen.

Make sure that your goals are created based on the SMART method.

Exercise: Write down 30 goals (small and larger) on a piece of paper that you would like to achieve by the end of the year. Think about realizing your dreams, but also about emotional development, working on your passions, and overcoming your limitations. Consider what milestones you can take towards realizing your big life plans. You have to start sometime, right? Once you've identified what you want, plan it out. Dedicate each month, week, and maybe even day to a goal and take action.

3. EXERCISE NATURALLY

Physical activity is very important and makes a huge difference if you want to take care of your mental health.

Exercise makes you not only take care of your body but also work on stress and deal with difficult emotions much easier. It's worth appreciating it! However, before you rush to the gym or fitness club, consider including a week of outdoor physical activity in your schedule. Yes, start exercising naturally - instead of fancy choreography, just choose to move. Running, walking, working in the garden, preparing firewood, clearing snow from the road (coming soon!). Feel the strength of your body and get some endorphins while being outdoors.

Contact with nature is important for mental health - for example, because of its impact on stress. Allow yourself the simplicity of movement in nature, and feel the energy of the world around you instead of constantly staying in a crowded gym.

Exercise: No matter when you read this, get up, open the nearest window, stand next to it, and stretch for 5 minutes, breathing in fresh air. Get in touch with nature by moving. Use exercise to take care of your mental health.

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4. MAINTAIN REAL CONTACT WITH PEOPLE

Yes, this whole online world is full of challenges. Especially in their relational aspect. Notice how many relationships are based on Facebook and Instagram contacts. Focusing on such contacts creates a feeling of loneliness (sometimes unconscious), leads to Internet addiction, and may generate stress.

I am not encouraging you to give up using the Internet (oh no, let's use what we have at our fingertips), but I encourage you to have real contact with people - meetings, phone calls, or organizing something important together. There are many options and the effect is quite important. Real, strong bonds with others have a great impact on self-esteem, improve the quality of life, and give a sense of belonging, which has a great impact on well-being.

Of course - you may be the type of person who does not need hundreds of friends and meetings with someone every day. All right. However, this does not change the fact that I would like to encourage you to transform as many virtual friendships as possible into more real ones that require personal contact.

Exercise: take care of your relationships and set yourself a challenge: meet 5 people important to you in the next week. Yes, it's difficult, there are only 7 days in a week. But why not try it? Let's assume that such meetings are to be as real as possible (telephone or face-to-face conversation), shorter or longer as you want. Plan dinner at your house, meet someone on the way to work, or take someone for a walk (instead of walking alone).

What I Learned from Spending a Week in Virtual Reality Jak Wilmot TEDxVienna

5. DO SOMETHING FUNNY - REGULARLY

Imagine that someone tells you a joke and you react in a certain way: you don't understand, you don't laugh, maybe you even think it's embarrassing to laugh at something like that. Oh, it looks like someone hasn't had any fun here for a long time.

Relax, start doing something fun, open yourself to laughter, joy, and spontaneity, and stop feeling sad and bored. Excitement, hilarity, and the tendency to laugh at nonsense are what can help you relax wonderfully after a stressful day. React to stress with the opposite – by being relaxed.

If you are too tense, closed off, and have stopped laughing (or even smiling!), start taking action immediately. Your body needs endorphins, which are released when you are happy. If from time to time you do a crazy dance to your favorite song, organize a pillow fight, suddenly go out of town for a weekend (or spend the night in a tent in your garden or living room), you will be free yourself from tension, routine, and boredom - and these are the things that threaten our well-being and mental functioning.

Exercise: Do something fun today. Make this an exercise you repeat regularly

6. SHAPE YOUR VISION OF YOUR IDEAL LIFE

Believe me, I don't care that you don't have it that easy. How do you know which of us has it easier in life right now? Today I want to encourage you, first of all, to dream and create your wonderful vision of a perfect life. Think about what you want.

What should your perfect day look like? What habits, rituals, objects, and places should be in your everyday life? What should you do? If you need to - draw your idea on a large sheet of paper, write down a list, record it, and write a letter to yourself. Imagine it.

The vision of an ideal life is an interesting way of taking care of your psyche. First of all, it shapes a certain view of the future, triggers dreams and creativity, and thus has a motivating effect. If I know how wonderful it can be, I want to pursue it. That's not all - a vision of the future is like a protective shield in difficult situations. If I know something good is waiting for me, I grit my teeth and act.

Exercise: draw or describe your ideal day - use the vision board (check mine vision board). Consider what will help you take care of your mental health.

Think about all its aspects: what you look like, what you do, what you eat, etc. Keep your vision close to you - hang it on the board, keep it in a notebook - and refer to it as often as possible. Let it stay in your head so that you can finally implement it.

7. LOVE YOURSELF

You are unique – do you realize that? Looks like it's time for some real self-appreciation - what would you say?

Recognition that you are a real diamond that needs to be cared for?

So take care of your body and mind - remember that both areas are closely related. Choose healthy eating (what we eat affects our mental functioning), exercise (endorphins released during physical exercise have a phenomenal effect on our well-being), and relaxation (coping with stress using relaxation techniques and simple rest is very important!). Take care of yourself - reward yourself for your efforts, and fulfill your little whims and whims. The less self-flagellation and more self-ticking, the better for your mental health.

The ability to take care of yourself may result, to a large extent, from self-acceptance - we know how difficult it is to achieve. So if you have trouble (let's call it this) honoring yourself, expressing contentment, nurturing yourself, think about how special you are. Your daily efforts certainly deserve recognition, your work deserves reward. Prove to yourself that you are worth being cared for and adored. So love yourself.

Exercise: Start proving your worth to yourself and meticulously write down the small successes you achieve every day. Notice what you do – even if it's something ordinary. Every day can be a unique opportunity for development - so notice what steps you manage to overcome. Every evening, write down small achievements of the day in your notebook. If you manage to accomplish something great, write it down too. And then appreciate yourself. It's worth taking care of you!

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8. CHALLENGE YOURSELF

A challenge is something that is demanding. You commit and you have to make some effort to achieve your goal. You act even though sometimes you don't feel like it, you're fed up, you're afraid. But you are working.

Thanks to challenges, you go beyond your comfort zone, learn new things, build your experience, and get to know yourself even more.

Goals to achieve are one thing - you define them and try to achieve them. Challenges are a slightly different topic - they are experiences that do not necessarily have to involve striving for success.

For me, they are rather experiences that develop creativity, the ability to cope with stress, and high self-esteem. Imagine that you set yourself a physical challenge - and you managed to achieve this goal. How do you feel then? Self-satisfaction, pride, the impression that you are developing and consistent.

Exercise: How about writing down a dozen or several dozen challenge ideas? Let it be something demanding, difficult, giving you goosebumps, maybe even scary. All these ideas are meant to be a challenge for you (i.e. forget about the easy way) - try to take into account different areas of life. What's next? Set yourself a cut-off date and implement all your ideas by that date.

Purpose of the exercise: by planning challenges in this way, you face a development process that can change a lot in your life. In addition to very intense learning, new experiences, and overcoming internal blockages, you work on your self-esteem. Even if not every challenge is met, you will act - and this is crucial and energizing for every healthy person.

9. STOP COMPARING YOUR LIFE CHALLENGES TO THOSE OF OTHERS

Or problems – whatever you call them. The truth is: that you have no idea what the people around you are struggling with. And it's very good that you don't know it. Get on with your life, and stop comparing yourself. Why?

First of all: you only have an idea of how others live. You look at them from your perspective, you are not aware of what life is like behind the closed doors of their homes and you create in your head a vision of a life that does not exist. If you like to compare yourself to others, you are missing out. When you look at others as inferior to yourself, you become unbearable, self-righteous, and mean (seriously!). However, if you compare yourself with people, feeling inferior to them, you lose self-confidence, fall into the trap of jealousy, and stop appreciating what you have. In both cases, you are regressing instead of progressing. And you create a cloud of negative emotions around you.

Although avoiding comparisons to other people is difficult and requires practice, it is possible. A very good strategy can be to encourage comparisons to yourself from the past months or years. Remember what it was like some time ago - you've changed, right? What new qualities have you noticed in yourself? What did you learn? What have you become a master at? You are better at many things today than you used to be. Think what else you can learn!

Exercise: Take a piece of paper again and divide it into two parts. On the one hand, write down the names of 5 people you admire (or envy them - be honest with yourself), and on the other, write down the names of those whom you feel better than in some way (better clothes, bank account balance, appearance, family situation, etc.). Now think about this

How could you express your sincere admiration for people you admire? Do it – meet, write an email, make a gift. You won't lose anything from this - no one will think that you are worse than them. On the contrary - by expressing appreciation, you not only build your strong position but also control negative emotions.

Do you remember 5 people who make you feel better than them? Instead of wallowing in these feelings, take a step in a different direction. Think about how you could support these people in their development and inspire them. What will it do for you?

First of all, supporting other people is therapeutic: especially for people who look for self-esteem in other people's failures. Moreover, you can expect a whole range of positive signals from the people you help, and this will have a great effect on your emotionality.

If you have difficulties with you self-confidence I encourage you to sign up for the self-confidence course.

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10. ASK FOR HELP TO TAKE CARE

Ok, of course, I admit one thing: you can be very, very independent. No help from others, no support in difficult situations. Nothing. Emotions? Absolutely! You won't show them - sadness, doubt, fear. You won't admit defeat - you'd rather bite off your tongue than admit that you're bad at something.

This is where you make a mistake.

A person who wants to take care of their mental health creates a smaller or larger support group around them. Has someone to talk to, can call at any time to seek advice, and knows that there is someone out there who will always help. Great awareness.

Nothing is devastating about asking for help, trust me. It is completely normal - each of us has moments when loneliness is not a good thing. You may suffer from lost love, difficulties with parents, relationship crises, problems with children, studies, dreams, or anything else. If there is someone around you who will always help you, you will feel safe and socially belonging. It's like a protection package prepared for crises.

Exercise: Make sure there is a rule of reciprocity - if you also help others, you can expect a return. Set yourself a small challenge and help one person every day - in various possible situations. It may be an old lady in a store, a parent, a loved one, or a stranger - see what strength lies in your tendency to help others.

It will also be easier for you to ask for help from someone who has obtained something from you.

Mental health is not something permanent in life - it needs to be nurtured like any other important part of yourself. Find ways to take care of your mental health every day.

Now let's move on to the more official part, which concerns general information about mental health.

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INCIDENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

Mental health problems are much more common than many of us realize. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in four people in the world will experience mental problems at some point in their lives. These issues do not discriminate; they affect people of all ages, genders, races, and origins.

World mental health report: Transforming mental health for all

Full report below

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THE STIGMA SURROUNDING MENTAL HEALTH

One of the most significant obstacles to addressing mental health issues is the persistent stigma that surrounds them. For too long, society has perpetuated the idea that discussing mental health is a sign of weakness. This stigma can discourage people from seeking help when they need it most, contributing to poorer mental health.

Mental Health Day sheds much-needed light on awareness-raising issues. When we understand the universality of mental health challenges and recognize that they are part of the human experience, we become better equipped to respond with empathy and support.

Raising awareness is not just about acknowledging the existence of mental health problems; it is about promoting early intervention, reducing stigma, and improving the overall well-being of individuals and communities.

It is also necessary to look at mental health holistically. Mental well-being consists of emotional, psychological, and social factors. By taking all of these aspects into account, we can better support people on their mental health journey.

LONG-TERM GOALS FOR PROMOTING MENTAL HEATH

We all play a role in supporting mental health. Listening, offering help, and fostering open, empathetic communication can make a significant difference in the lives of people struggling.

Mental Health Day reminds us of the long-term goals of promoting mental health. These goals include improving access to care, reducing stigma, and achieving better mental health outcomes for all. It's a work in progress today, but Mental Health Day is a powerful catalyst for change.

Mental Health Day is not just a date on the calendar; it is a symbol of hope, understanding, and support. By raising awareness, promoting holistic well-being, and advocating for change, we can make a significant difference in the lives of people affected by mental health issues.

So as Mental Health Day approaches, let's take action - whether it's through self-care, reaching out for help, or supporting mental health initiatives in our communities. Together we can create a world where mental well-being is a priority and no one has to face their challenges alone.

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