This week is the official mental health awareness week of 2018. A topic we all should be talking about every week of the year yet are pressured to keep inside. In this new era where slowly everything is becoming acceptable or at least starting to be talked about, some things are still taboo such as mental health. After having suffered a while with PSTD I understand the need to make this a topic we are open with.
Crazy is ignoring mental health
Our society overlooks mental health, people go by their days fighting demons they don´t even know are normal. Too ashamed to talk about them they hide their darkness and insecurities. We grow up believing that when our brains aren´t perfect we are crazy or weak therefore we keep it to ourselves. The thing is stress, insecurity, anxiety and jealousy are mental health issues. Mental health is such a heavy term, it always sounds like the word for the crazy or specific mental diseases but why can´t we broaden it becoming just the definition for the darkest parts of everyone’s brains? We must understand these issues, how to fight them and how to understand others that are also fighting. Companies such as do something, blurt foundation, more love letters and calm are here to help us in need. However what we need most is to be able to talk about it. Don’t fear to feel. So today let´s focus on stress in this article.
Ways to eliminate stress
- When your to do list is too long, eat the broccolis first and leave the desert for later. Do the hardest most boring tasks first because you will appreciate the ones you like even more after. We always want to do the easier ones first but then it will make the more dreadful ones even harder later.
- Don’t make rash decisions with a hot head. Let yourself calm down before you decide to make a change. This also applies to answering people. Don’t answer what your angry self wants to say. Anger should not take control over your body because it is always led by regret.
- Stress eating should never be an escape. Don’t overeat to forget. This leads to a dependency. It can be as bad as smoking. Junk food makes you slower, more tired and less confident.
- When you are working on something with a deadline don’t ask other people if they have done it already. Don’t compare yourself to others rates.
- If someone is making you crazy, then don’t go intensely stalk them on all media. Don’t make yourself more angry and stressed by finding trigger points.
- Over success or over tragedy can stress us. If you turn on the media you are flooded by disasters and misfortunes. They crawl into your brain and you will be focusing about the things you can’t control. Lack of control is a big cause of stress. On the other hand by seeing people on your area having a lot of success, your friends both work or personal life growing you feel it can be an overload of success. Even if you don’t want to be affected, it has a way to stay in the back of your mind and control you with comparisons.
- You don’t need be a perfectionist. Forget the urge of wanting everything to be perfect. Accept that life is messy and so sometimes your outcomes will be chaotic.
- Learn to say no. A lot of stress happens when people think about the ‘what if’s’ or imagine scenarios in which they would have said what they wanted. Don’t wonder about what it would be, just take a deep breath and say no.
- Don’t be scared to ask for help. The truth is that whomever you ask for help actually will like to be useful..
- Take a break! We tend to work until everything is done however hours straight with no breaks aren’t productive. Let your mind wander for 5 minutes or at least go outside to have some fresh air.
- Don’t let people over step their limits without you saying so. Respect yourself, follow your own limits.
- Delegate, don’t do everything by yourself when you know you can have help.
- For at least 5 minutes go to ‘your place’. A place you use to escape the world. You don’t need to be there a lot but the privacy and peace will relax you instantly.
