Maintaining good health involves more than physical wellness. Staying healthy means keeping your mental wellness in good shape as well. There are many ways to be proactive in strengthening your mental wellness. Here are seven activities to improve your mental health.

1. Journaling and Writing

Writing is one of the most highly suggested activities you can engage in to improve your mental well-being. Journalling offers an outlet to express your thoughts, feelings, and responses to situations without fear of repercussion or judgment. Taking the time to write a list of as many things you can think of that you’re thankful for can instantly alter your mindset. You can also write a letter to anyone, living or deceased, whether you know them personally or not. In your letter tell that person anything and everything you feel you cannot say to them. Each letter is to a person, but you’re writing it yourself. No one ever has to read it.

2. Practicing Generosity and Humility

Being generous is a rewarding practice of humility. There are countless ways, big and small, that you can strengthen your mental health by practicing humility and being generous:

Holding a door open for someone
Paying for a stranger’s lunch
Mowing your neighbor’s yard
Volunteering with local non-profits
Picking up a coworker’s slack

Just be sure you’re not looking for recognition from these activities. You’ll enjoy much greater rewards in the long run.

3. Reframing Negatives as Positives

Another exceptionally productive activity you can do to strengthen your mental health is changing your perspective. Your perspective refers to the way you look at things that go on in your life. Looking for the best in a bad situation is not easy for everyone; however, making conscious and consistent efforts to try and see things in a more positive light enhances your mental health and attitude toward unpleasant circumstances.

4. Spending Time in Nature

You can escape into a nature-filled setting by going on vacation for a week or even a couple of nights. For example, you could book a stay in one of the many Gatlinburg cabins in southeastern Tennessee and retreat from the entire rest of the world. Spending time in nature is a productive way to reconnect with your spiritual self, which can enhance the effects of efforts to improve mental or physical health.

5. Spending Quality Time with Friends and Family

We’re hard-wired to be interdependent and social creatures, and we tend to form bonds with certain people we encounter in life. Spending time with people you care about enhances your mental health by reminding you that you matter to people who matter to you. Make a dedicated effort to show the people in your life that you appreciate and value the relationship you have with them.

Photo by Mental Health America (MHA) from Pexels

6. Practicing Mindful Exercises

Many activities for improving physical health also strengthen your mental health, especially when refined to do so. Here is a solid example of these combined activities:

Plan your meals for nutrition and avoid distractions at mealtimes so you can pay attention to the fullness of your body

Meditate and journal to reflect on the day’s events before going to bed for a full six to eight hours of rest

Practice both yoga or similar workouts and cardio workouts as a part of your exercise agenda

Try new things such as foods, hobbies, places, or activities regularly

Create both a daily routine (waking up, medications, meals, bedtime, etc.) and a weekly schedule (work, exercise, chores, errands, hobbies, etc.,) then commit to doing these things at the same time every day and on the same day every week

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels

7. Practicing Self-Care

Your mental health will suffer greatly if you aren’t making efforts to care for your entire self, even if you’re doing things for your physical well-being and your body is relatively healthy. Among the most essential activities for self-care are hygiene and getting dressed for the day, even if you plan on being home. Making a point to look nice makes you feel better about yourself.

Finally, and probably the most critical activity on this list, self-talk has an intense and weighted effect on your mental health. Self-talk refers to what you say to yourself and how you think about who you are and what you have done, are doing, or plan to do. Be aware of the way you talk to yourself and about yourself. State positive affirmations in the present tense to improve your self-talk. As soon as you recognize negative thoughts or views about yourself and your life, try to analyze their origin and reason. Find ways to change it into an optimistic outlook.

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