4 things that have helped improve my mental health recently

Lifestyle, Mental Health and Wellbeing 3 Minutes

Covid-19 has been a challenging time for nearly all of us, and we have all been impacted one way or another. I won’t deny that the pandemic has also had an impact on me. However, I will say that I have come out of this pandemic pretty well, and my mental health has actually improved overall in this time. However, it hasn’t been easy, and there have been things that I have done that have helped my mental health in this period. I talk about these in this article, and hopefully the points I make can help some of you as well.

Surrounding myself with the right people

This is probably the single most important thing that has helped me recently. For me my family have been lovely and very supportive which helped a lot as I was with them at home the vast majority of the time. Furthermore, even though I couldn’t see my friends in person, they have been very understanding of my situation, and we have given each other motivation and positive energy whenever we have Zoom called or messaged. However, one thing I want to emphasise here is that in this period I have had to cut out people that weren’t helping me become the best version of myself or that were having a negative impact on my mental health and wellbeing. It’s important to realise that if you surround yourself with even a handful of people that have a negative influence on you, the bad impact that it can have could sometimes outweigh the benefits of being around people that have a positive impact on you.

Worrying less about what others think of me

Worrying too much about what others think of you is something that a lot of people are guilty of doing too much. But one of the biggest lessons that I learnt over time is that no matter how hard you try, you will never make everyone happy and there will always be people that will disagree with some of the things you do. One thing that I have realised is that in the vast majority of times, people’s opinions about me now won’t matter a year from now, and therefore it does no good worrying obsessively about it. For me, this shift in mindset to worrying less about what others thought of me helped free my mind immensely, and allowed me to feel better about myself. This contributed to my mental health improving.

Spending time on my hobbies

For those of you who don’t know already, my main hobbies are blogging, reading, sudoku, solving with riddles and playing games with my family. In the summer holidays I was able to spend a healthy amount of time on my hobbies, meaning that there weren’t many times where I felt totally bored. For me, my hobbies are things that make me happy, and setting aside time for them has helped maintain my morale and motivation in the tough times of the pandemic. I am giving high priority in keeping up my hobbies alongside my full-time job, as I believe that spending time on my hobbies is good for my mental health.

Taking ownership of my own problems

This is another really important and interesting point. Before this pandemic, I struggled with my mental health and anxiety, and it would have been so easy for my anxiety to get worse due to the pandemic. Therefore, I knew that my mental health and anxiety could spiral out of control if I did nothing about it. The thing I decided to do was to take more ownership of my emotions, and take the responsibility to solve my own problems. I very quickly realised how empowering this was, and I certainly felt that taking responsibility for my problems was a measure of my courage and mental strength. Moreover, taking ownership of my problems meant that I found it easier to find solutions when I felt down, and therefore meant that I was able to maintain a good level of wellbeing. The message I want to get across from my experience was that it is important to talk about your problems and struggles, but you are the only person with the power to change your situation at the end of the day.

Has there been anything that has helped with your mental health recently? Comment on the comment section below!

Published by nirajshah2003

A lifestyle and mental health blogger that aims to help others by writing blogs :)

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56 thoughts on “4 things that have helped improve my mental health recently”

  1. Loved this post Niraj. In particular I like the last point you made, its so important that we realise a lot of the time our mental health problems are just that, our problems. It can be so easy to take things out on other people, but that doesnt do much!

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  5. It’s very interesting to see that your mental health improved during this pandemic. I would say mine did too, however lots of people have had the reverse. Would you say that you are an introvert?

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  6. Great post! I can definitely relate to all of these when it comes to improving mental health. My favourite is “worrying less about what others think of me”. It’s amazing how much better things become when you stop caring- I’ve learnt that myself recently too.

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  8. I also thought my mental health would deteriorate during isolation. But I was quite surprised how I’m really well during these times. I cut ties with people that is not good for my well being. I find hobbies like playing ukulele, and writing.

    But the thing you said about taking ownership of our problems is true and yes, seeking for help and talking about it truly helps but if you’re not willing to help yourself then it’s all nonsense.

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    1. I am so glad to hear that you are keeping well! Cutting ties with people that are negative for your well being is something which is good as well 🙂

      And yes absolutely , seeking help and talking about it is useful but not enough on it’s own!

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  10. Great post! As a person with C-PTSD I also found that sheltering in place was exacerbating my condition. I was trauma triggered by the continual onslaught of distressing news that greeted us each day. Taking ownership is vitally important. I found that life’s simple pleasure helped me to rebalance and refocus —- blogging, going for walks and being out in mother nature helped me the most.

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  11. Excellent post Niraj!👍 I really liked the last point of taking ownership of our problems. I do believe that when we become accountable for our own life then we can tackle the problems better without getting stressed or worried.

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  12. You have nice hobbies. I only wish I can figure out sudoku. It is lovely to hear you are taking care of yourself in this time, and that your family and friends are supportive. This pandemic is certainly making life hard for everyone, but we all try to cope, don’t we?

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    1. Sudoku is a lovely way to relax. And I agree that this pandemic has made lives hard and we are doing our best to cope! I wish that society were more together though in this fight

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  13. Nice post. I can relate to all of them. I’ve just decided to let go of people that were draining me and I feel so much better as well as giving time to my hobbies and not caring about what others think of me.

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  17. This is beautifully written. You are right about focusing your energy into doing what makes you happy! Cutting out people from your life who isn’t letting you become the best version of yourself is the best thing ever. We are so much better without the negative energy in our life.

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  22. absolutely, and first amongst all comes from the people you choose to surround yourself, to really focusing your triggers of what you are seeing, hearing, noticing on daily and most importantly again to what you are feeding your body with. Very important Neeraj. Thank you.

    Nara

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