Learn more about our resident mental health expert and author of Mental Health Mondays, Jade Savage.

Hi Moms!

How is everyone doing? Can you believe that February is almost over? I truly cannot. Life gets so busy and then before we know it, days, weeks and months have just flown by! I know for myself that I usually like to be a bit busier with a free weekend or week here and there to get back on track. How about you? Do you find that you thrive with the bustle or thrive with the slow? Whatever it is that you find works best for you, make more time for that! Re-schedule your day or week to make sure that you are getting in what you need to feel good!

6 “Steps”

Whenever we might feel that our mental health isn’t doing so great, or we just aren’t feeling our best, we often want to look for outside reasons or that there is something wrong. I strongly encourage you to examine 6 things first before doing anything else. These 6 “steps” or things are something we should constantly be doing in our life, because they lead us to living healthy and balanced lives in all regards.

1. Sleep – yes sleep! I know for some of you this might be so joyful but for others it might not be. As a counselor, I see all ages who struggle with sleep. When our sleep is off or when it just doesn’t come as easily as we would hope, we might feel the stress and other emotions that come along with not enough sleep or the hard time of getting that sleep. If you notice yourself not feeling your best, assess your sleep. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you sleeping too much? Are you waking up a lot at night? Sleep is so so important for your mental health and your physical health that we need to prioritize it! Now I know that you with newborns and children who might be sleep regressing or just have a hard time sleeping, that you might be laughing at me. There are times where your sleep will be disrupted and do what you need to do to feel rested and ok. This might look like napping when your children nap. You must do what you have to do to keep yourself okay.
2. Sunlight – we talked about this last time (Vitamin D) so this is a refresh. Getting sunlight, or if you can’t get adequate sunlight, taking a Vitamin D supplement is extremely important for your mental health. This is why we see people struggling with seasonal mental health issues, because of the lack of sunlight. Are you getting enough sunlight?
3. Movement – move your body! If you find yourself in a rut with your health either physical or mental, a great area to look at is how active you are being. Are you spending most of your time sitting at the desk in your office? Are you spending most of your time laying on the couch or in bed? Are you telling yourself you will work out in the morning but always oversleep? There are so many areas to examine that could potentially stop you from getting the movement that your body desperately needs. It feels good to move, as well as it releases chemicals in your body that literally make you feel good! Even if it is just a 30-minute walk or bike ride, find the way to get it in! Your body and brain will thank you! Assess your movement!
4. Nutrition – Assess the food and liquid you are putting in your body! By no means am I saying, “stick to a diet.” Because that’s a big fat no! I do not like diets, because research shows us that the success rate at a diet is extremely low and only adds to the unhealthy weight gain and eating habits. Just be mindful about what you are eating. Are you getting enough protein? Are you eating your vegetables and fruits, or are they hardly ever finding their way on your plate? How much sugar are you consuming? How much alcohol, sodas, caffeine, energy drinks are you consuming? Again, I’m not saying to not eat or drink those. Live your life and eat what makes you happy and feel good! I am saying to be mindful. If your mental health is feeling off, double check how you’re eating.
5. Social – are you spending most of your time alone? Not interacting with other adults? Even introverts need social interaction. It might not be their favorite thing in the world, but social interaction is so important to our health. We were not made to be isolated. Being social could be meeting with a friend for coffee, or going to a workout class, or going on a date. Human interaction is good, don’t let your mind trick you into thinking that you don’t need anyone else. We need other people :).
6. Ruminating – ahh, sitting with your thoughts and letting time pass by while we make ourselves feel worse, worse, and more worse. Have you ever noticed when something happens that isn’t necessarily a good thing or you get in a fight or something happens, and you think about it again and again in your head and think about how negative it is and what you should have done or what they should have done? Then next time you check your phone it’s an hour later. So you sat there thinking negatively for a whole hour, and I’m guessing you feel even worse than you did an hour ago? This is called ruminating. When we sit with our negative thoughts with no efforts to be positive, realistic and to help ourselves. We let ourselves ruminate in the negativity. The challenge here? Stop yourself. When you notice your brain running away with negative thoughts, stop yourself. Journal about what is true and positive to steer yourself away from the negativity. Distract yourself, listen to a podcast and go for a walk! Do something, so that you don’t spend your time making yourself feel worse by sitting in a bubble of negativity.

These are things you can always look at when you are feeling low, not right, depressed, sad, anxious and so forth. When things don’t feel right, you can assess these six things and look at them. Where are you doing good with these things? Where is there room for improvement? What is completely lacking and needs direct focus and help? By doing this, you are able to notice within yourself how to help yourself and areas that you can focus on!

As always, be so kind to yourself. If you notice your eating is not the best, or you hardly ever get movement in, you might want to feel ashamed or bad about it. Be kind to yourself. Meet yourself with self-compassion and understanding. We are all doing our best, and progressing in our life is necessary. Whatever you find that you were doing might have served you at one point, however you notice yourself needing something different and that is good and normal. You can do this! See you next time mommas!

Reminder: this is not a form of therapy/counseling. If you are experiencing negative mental health symptoms, I encourage you to reach out to a local mental health professional so that you are able to get direct help.

** Please check with your healthcare provider before taking supplements or making big changes to your lifestyle.