Social media has a lot to answer for.
Not just social media but media as a whole.
Modern life has a lot to answer for as well.
- We’re bombarded daily with advertisements and notifications.
- We scroll through Instagram looking at the lives that other people lead.
- We compare ourselves at least at a sub-conscious level to people we don’t even know.
- We have constant “noise” from TV, YouTube and other outlets.
- We live in our phones and have separation anxiety if we are careless enough to lose them.
- We record every single last event because we have a camera handy in our pocket.
Our brain is constantly working and it hardly ever lets up. We do all of this without even thinking about it.
We have become detached from ourselves and instead instill value in other people or things.
In order to validate ourselves we must buy into the lives of the people we worship on social media and make sure we get the latest new thing.
You may not even be aware that this is grinding down on your emotional state. It takes a lot for me sometimes to step back and tell myself that I’m not right in my mind and have to take some time out to myself. One weekend I retreated to Rotorua and stayed by the Blue Lake. It was calm, isolated and secluded.
I really have to do that again.
Here are some of my best tips to take care of your mental health.
- Engage in physical activity. This will lead to the release of the hormones like serotonin (low levels have been linked to depression) and dopamine (the hormone that helps initiate movement)
- Avoid negativity and seek out positivity. I thought this was airy fairy nonsense, but it’s true. Do your best not to buy into toxic messaging, surroundings, media and people. Listen to positive messages like calm or uplifting music, or motivational speakers.
- Eat food to give you enough energy for what you need to do. You’re a walking tower of chemical reactions and you need to energy to sustain those reactions. Physical well-being is intrinsically tied to your mental well-being.
- If you’re depressed and/or suffer from anxiety, seek out people who are going through the same thing. You’re not broken, or “weird” or a bad person. A lot of people are in the same boat as you. One person who stands out for me and inspires me through what he does is Shane Way at Your Way Well Being. Get in touch with him through Facebook because Shane is a legend.
- Learn to say “no” sometimes. You can’t be everything to everybody and if you do, people can start to take that for granted. This is your life too. It’s not being selfish to not over-commit in your life.
Put yourself first and then you can take care of the people around you.
Don’t take life so seriously. It’s not like you’re getting out alive.
Coach Grant