Tips for mental health 1

There are times when your negative thoughts and emotions can lead to a spiralling down into low mood, anxiety or even desperation or depression.  You may feel you need help or support, and that's fine.

However, there are a number of strategies constantly at your disposal that you can employ to give yourself the best chance of thriving in a challenging world.

1.  Don't fear change: Change leads to personal growth despite natural anxiety of the unknown.  Fear leads to stasis - ad even worse - regression.  You do not have to be reckless or a fearless risk-taker, but you should be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to try something new - go somewhere new - meet new people.  Change your routines occasionally and experience new emotions and enjoy fresh perspectives.

2.  Let go of control: A common and tempting safety behaviour is to try to control everything around you and to make it predictable.  Sadly, life will always throw up the unexpected however much we try to predict our environment.  We all need to lay plans - this goes without saying - but do try to live more in the moment and enjoy and appreciate even the small things that add value to our daily lives.  

3.  Learning from experience and from past mistakes provides us with valuable data to enrich our lives.  But ruminating on the past and constantly reinforcing negative emotions connected to things that did not go so well depletes your resources and reduces your resilience.

I don't believe in overloading information.  So please watch for the next instalment.