Today is World Mental Health Day and as I suffer from acute anxiety disorder I know how difficult life can feel when your mental health is not good. So today I am blogging my three top ideas for how to improve your mental health when you are feeling down.
1. Stay positive
I think it is important to try to look on the positive side of things and know that the difficult times will pass. It helps me to try and find good in my situation - that’s why I blog and tweet about my experiences because I hope they can help others. I find it’s good to laugh and joke with friends too because that brings happy vibes and helps me to be happy!
2. Be active
It’s very easy when I feel a bit down to want to stay at home. When I am very anxious I find it really hard to leave the house. But I try to convince myself to take my dog on a walk because I know that fresh air and exercise really helps. I always feel better after jumping on the trampoline or doing gymnastics, it’s just hard to start it when you don’t feel like it sometimes!
3. Talk about how you’re feeling
What really helps me improve my mental health is to talk about the things that worry me. When I talk about them it feels like there is a weight lifted off me and it stops the feeling of “scrambled eggs” that I get in my head. Especially late at night, worries can get scrambled up in my head, and just a quick talk can help them go away so I can sleep better. The people I like to talk to are my teachers (I’m lucky that I have some amazing teachers at school that I trust completely), my psychologist, my family and my “trusted adults”, and my friends. I hope that my friends can talk to me as well if they have worries, so we can help each other through them.
I hope this gives you some ideas. The most important thing is that we all take care of each other so that we can live our best and happiest lives.
