Mental Health is defined as “a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional wellbeing…???
This week is Mental Health week with the theme ‘Stress – Are We Coping?’
Mental Health – Who does it affect?
Every person needs to look after their wellbeing and it can be difficult sometimes when there are daily worries and issues caused by stress and anxiety. These worries can be one off or ongoing and they can affect people in different ways.
Mental Health Foundation UK advise “Mental Health is everyone’s business. We all have times when we feel down or stressed or frightened. Most of the time those feelings pass, but sometimes they develop into a more serious problem that could happen to anyone of us.???
When someone is trying to overcome feelings of overwhelm and anxiety in their daily lives, there are steps which they can take which will help them feel more in control, less stressed and ready to take on challenges which they did not feel could be possible. These challenges could be starting a new job, studying a new course or just simply taking a walk around the block.
So what can you do to help yourself?
Communicate with others
Imagine you have just enrolled yourself into a new course to further your prospects at a higher-level career but feel completely out of your depth and getting stressed because you haven’t studied for a number of years. By communicating how you feel in this situation to your teacher, tutor or assessor you can alleviate your anxiety because ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved’. So, whatever you are going through in your life, communication is the key. Find someone you can talk to and start feeling your anxiety relieved.
Exercise
Yes, even just a walk around the block can help you alleviate the anxieties that build up and start creating greater mental health overwhelm. When you think of exercise, you think of making time to go to the gym or hiring a personal trainer. But, what is most relevant here is that you make time for a walk, a swim or a run in the park.
Enjoy ‘You’ time
This can be a time which most people do not have during a day, a week, a month or even a year. But this is an essential part of being. Taking time out for you, whether it is just sitting in the sun reading a book or taking yourself to the movies on your own, this time is the time to do just what you want to do. It is important for your sanity and mental health. Know your identity, remember who you are.
Have a routine
Having a routine and a structure around what you do in your life can help you maintain a sense of security and stop overwhelm happening to you. When you have a shopping list and take it to the supermarket, for example, you buy only the items you need. You have a structure, you keep to your budget and the menus you have decided on for your weekly shop. When you don’t have structure, your weekly shop becomes greater than it needs to be, you are overspending and then you feel stress creeping in. Be prepared to set up a routine for yourself in your life.
Socialise and Friendship
Being around people who you care about and who care about you can make your life feel a little less worrisome and a lot more enjoyable. Sometimes even it can be that you have a friend who is feeling more stressed than you about something, and just offering a shoulder for them can alleviate the stress and anxiety you are feeling. Helping and socialising with others where you can forget about some of your troubling issues and laugh and smile can make your worries start to dissipate.
By alleviating stress in whatever part of your life you feel it the most, you can start moving your daily life forward to accomplish the things in life which matter the most – learning something new, moving into a new career, starting a family or even just getting your drivers licence.
What is stressing you the most right now? What will you do to alleviate this?
We have a number of fully funded short courses which can help you help yourself or others with the care and understanding of Mental Health. Please ask us for more information.
©Hazel Theocharous, Learn Plus Us