Mental Health Personal Protective Equipment
Mental health is something that impacts us all. It is nothing that anyone should be ashamed to admit. I know that we have visuals of what it means to have mental health issues. I know for me I envision that movie that shows the person with the wild hair being thrown into a padded room with a straight jacket. When in reality that is not the true picture of someone with a mental health issue. It is that teacher, mom, dad, co-worker, that we interact with daily. We all deal with some form of mental challenges whether that is stress or depression. The good news is there are actions we can take to aid in our mental wellness. Just like our first line workers use PPE to protect them physically we too can utilize mental health PPE in our daily routines. Below are three pieces of PPE that can be added to your daily routines.
RLO Tip- Start your day with our fresh scent Lemongrass or Rose Body Butter to help boost your mood.
Protect Your Mind
Mental Awareness – 5 minutes to Gratitude
Kickstart your day on a positive note with five minutes of gratitude. Take that time to list things you are grateful for or make you happy. This will ignite your awareness of your thoughts. Now that you have ignited your awareness of thought, eavesdrop on yourself throughout the day. What you are saying about yourself and those things happening around you? Are you finding yourself back on autopilot, overwhelmed, and allowing those negative thoughts to enter? That is okay. You can interrupt that conversation by reflecting on your morning of gratitude and how you felt. Counteracting those negative thoughts with a positive. You will be amazed at how you end your day on a positive note even if your day has been challenging. This is one case where eavesdropping pays off positively.
Protect Your Body
Fuel Your Body – Are you ready for the fight?
To win the mental battle, we have to be physically fit for the fight. Do you know of any professional fighter who did not prepare physically before jumping into the ring to fight? No, I don’t think so. So why should we be any different? My saying is any progress is better than no progress. Try taking 30 minutes a day to do some type of physical activity. I know some of us have not done anything for a while, so starting with 10 to 15 minutes works. The goal is to do something physical. It could simply be dancing around to your favorite upbeat song. Now that we established that we are going to do something physical each day even if it’s a personal dance party. We now have to think about our intake.
What are we feeding our bodies? Are we getting enough water? Like we are paying attention to our thoughts lets pay attention to how we fuel our body. When you are starting your day think about what you could replace for a healthier choice. Let’s say you like bacon and eggs to start your day. Why not try turkey bacon and egg whites instead? You did not give up the bacon eggs you just replaced it for a healthier option. Then you could build your way up to an even healthier choice, like vegetable and fruit smoothie. The goal is to take those small steps that result in overall big changes in our life. Now if you are a disciplined person and you can jump right into this permanent lifestyle change, I say go for it. I have found this building approach a lot easier for me. One of the items I wanted to change was having fewer Pepsi’s. Anyone who knows me knows I have to have my Pepsi. I started by drinking water first thing in the morning and the more water I had throughout the day lessens the number of Pepsis I had. What is your Pepsi? What is the one thing you can incorporate or replace that item with? It may be a trial and error in finding that one thing you like and that is a healthier option. The goal is to make a permanent lifestyle change. These small changes over time that lead to a permanent lifestyle out the way those short term changes that we are unable to maintain. We want to be the turtle, not the hair when it comes to our health.
Protect Your Spirit
Reset, Reflect and Release
At the end of our day, it is time that we shut down and prepare for a new day. I do not know about you, but my mind seems to go crazy when it is time to shut down for the day. I find myself rehashing things that did not go well, thinking about what I did not get done and thinking about what still has to be done. With all of those thoughts going on it is impossible to get a sound sleep. In order to get some sound sleep, you have to clear your mind. Instead of thinking about all of these things write them down. Make a list of those things that you need to accomplish and which one of those items that you need to tackle on the next day. Then write down your parking lot of items. Those thoughts you want to revisit such as processes improvement for those items that you thought could have been done better and any new ideas. The goal is to get them down onto paper so your mind can rest. After that exercise reflects on what you were most grateful for that day. Allowing yourself to feel how that made you feel. This will allow you to rest with a grateful mindset and not one of the stress and worry of all of the things yet to do.
As you go through your days practicing your personal PPE to protect yourself from the coronavirus don’t forget to pull out your mental PPE. Protect your mind, body, and spirit.
RLO Tip– End your day with RLOs relaxing Lavender Body Butter and Tub Tea to help aid in your reflection and releasing exercise.
Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed using http://store.myshopify.com/blogs/Mental Health Personal Protective Equipment.atom.