Everyone talks about Mental Health and says things like “That is not good for my Mental health” or “I must work on my Mental health” but what does that actually mean? How do you work on your mental health? Below is a list of 10 things that indicate that you have amazing Mental health:
- You Have future plans that excite you.
1 year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years…
- You have emotional balance.
You Understand that being human means that you will experience good and bad things in your life. You therefore know that you will experience positive and negative emotions too. You don’t resist your emotions or think something is terribly wrong when you experience negative ones.
- You have low or no buffering.
Buffering means to seek false pleasure to numb or avoid negative emotions. Examples are over-eating, over-drinking, over-working, watching too much Tv, gaming too much or spending too much time on social media. If you are mentally healthy you don’t avoid the relationship with yourself by distracting yourself with any of the above-mentioned examples.
- You Take Action.
(Even if it’s uncomfortable)
You don’t just think and talk about things you want or need to do. You actually put it on your calendar and take the necessary steps and actions to make it happen. - You have Internal control. You do not try to control the universe, your environment, and the people around you. You control your life internally not externally.
- You Coach yourself. You take part in some kind of enquiry, to understand what is going on in your mind and emotional life. This is in order to understand why you do things: your actions, inactions and reactions.
- You Prioritise Self-care. You make a contribution to your own life in the form of self-care. It is easier to fill others’ cups if your own cup is full. i.e. If you take care of yourself, you are much more able to take care of others.
- Unconditional Self-love. You understand that you are human being and are going to make mistakes to grow. You have compassion for yourself. You do not beat yourself up every time you fail or make a mistake. You accept yourself fully “warts and all.”
- Time-management. You manage your time effectively, not only to fit in all the things you want and have to do, but also understand that you have one life, and must respect the time you have here.
- Confidence. You have confidence in yourself, your ability to grow. You are confident in being and showing the world who you truly are.
Reading the list above may make you feel like you are nowhere on the mental health scale, but you should not get discouraged. Everyone in the world could do with some time spent on growing these aspects and improving their mental health. You could do so by reading encouraging “self-help” books, listening to inspiring podcasts, watching challenging YouTube Videos or by hiring a Life Coach. It is a lifelong pursuit and as long as you are aware of where you are, where you are going and what you want to do, you can improve your mental health.