Mental health is so important and it’s often the one thing that we let slide in lieu of being “productive” and staying focused. Here’s a little tip, you cannot be focused or productive if your mental health isn’t good.
Taking care of yourself is just as important as doing well on homework or being good at work. If you’re not your best, if you aren’t relaxed, and if you’re letting the things that make you happy slide, you’ll start to hate every minute of studying or work. And when you start to hate something, it’s hard to be successful.
To put it shortly, ignoring your mental health is the quickest way to burn yourself out. It’s like going on a really long run without drinking water. You’ll be fine in the beginning, but towards the end, you’ll be dragging.
I’m not a professional to be giving advice when it comes to mental health but I thought that I’d share some things that help me calm down and make sure I’m giving enough time for my self-care routine.
Clean or tidy your living space
When I’m super stressed out, I stress clean. It’s basically me procrastinating on what I have to do but I honestly think that stress cleaning is helpful. You’re physically doing something to help declutter your space and sometimes, that has the same affect mentally. It’s also distracting enough where you can tackle a messy part of your room and give your mind some rest from thinking about that overwhelming work project.
Listen to some quiet, calming music
Some calming artists I often to listen to include:
This isn’t a music recommendation but I highly recommend checking out Morgan Long’s youtube channel. Her videos are so soothing and they usually have the most calming, atmospheric music as the background.
Revisit Favorites
I’m all for rereading. If you have a book that brings you joy and you can feel yourself burning out at work or school, pick up the book! Try to read a bit from the book everyday, maybe the entire book or just your favorite parts. The same goes with your favorite tv show. Revisiting your favorites is like wrapping your overwhelmed brain up in the comfiest blanket and giving it some hot tea. Your favorite book, vlog, or tv show are somethings that you’re familiar with, which means your brain isn’t doing any extra work in consuming new content and their easy options to slide into for a good distraction.
And my last tip is maybe the most daunting of all, so maybe do it first so you can do the comfort things afterwards. Grab a piece of paper, and write down everything that’s on your mind that’s stressing you out. If you’re worried about an upcoming presentation, write down everything you’re worried about it. You’re worried about forgetting your lines, standing in front of all the people, being judged, etc. Write down all the pending tasks or things you have to do that are stressing you out, even the most mundane things. Just word vomit on that paper and then fold it, put it away, and don’t look at it for a few days.
For me, addressing the things that are stressing or scaring me is often times, the first step in moving past my fears. After a week or few days or after the big event that’s stressing me out, I open up the paper and cross of all the things that I’ve accomplished and hopefully have downsized the list of things I’m worried about. Sometimes, all we need is a very messy list of things that are pending or are worrying us and live a few days to realize that sometimes, things magically solve themselves. We check off tasks even though we’re not actively thinking about them or staring at that list we’ve put away a few days ago.
yeah ! ever since my mental health has been good these past couple of months, i’ve been able to get a lot more stuff done academic wise! and i often to feel more inclined and more motivated to do things if i myself am ready for the day or my room is clean!