Sonal Dave is an Award-Winning Celebrant, Toastmaster and Public Speaking Expert, and she shares her thoughts and knowledge of how to support yourself through the journey of Mental Health.Â
Its a topic that is often misunderstood as many feel that Mental Health is about other people and will never affect them. However, what is important for everyone to understand is that we all have Mental Health. We all sit on the Mental Health Continuum and can move up and down depending on what is happening to us in life at any time.
Knowing how to effectively manage and deal with your mental health can help a lot when it comes to everyday life, so let’s take a look at a few things you might want to keep in mind.Â
Practice communicationÂ
A support network can make such a difference for people who are struggling with mental health, but if you can’t say what’s wrong, how you are feeling, what you are hearing, or what you are seeing, how do you get the support you need? A support network can often be tied to your ability to reach out, and in that arena, a lot of people are lacking in ability as they may be afraid to reach out for fear of what may be said or what may happen. Communication is a must to whoever you can connect with.
Identify problems
A big step to managing mental health is to identify why it isn’t in the right place. Are you stressed about something? Anxious? Angry?Â
Whatever it is that you’re feeling, you need to try and focus on identifying the problem where you can. Knowing what’s wrong can help you take proactive steps to fix it, which is a good start to managing the problem. However, you may find that you cannot identify what the problem is and that is ok. This is another time to reach out to your support network or trusted friend and communicate. Let them help you to identify what may be the problem.
Tackle your fears
For a lot of people, their mental health is often tied to a fear of something. It might be an event, a member of the family, an old bad memory or it might be a deeper issue, but the point to think about is that when it comes to fears and how to deal with them, it can often be good to take proactive steps to do so.Â
Develop Strategies to help
When your mental health is suffering, it can feel like you’re all alone and have no idea what to do. Thankfully, mental health is something that can be worked on, and you often work on it by developing strategies to help yourself.Â
Develop skills to deal with mental health and learn how to reach out by storytelling, or by doing something positive when they feel negative. Often, you’ll find the issue is lacking in self belief and self-acceptance.These strategies will allow you to thrive under pressure.Â
Be kind to yourself
At the end of the day, we’re all human. The best thing you can do for yourself during these moments is to be kind to yourself and create a positive mindset and environment. Find that internal happy place.
These are 5 Tips to help you on your journey, but please always remember that you are not alone. Reach out to that person you trust and communicate. Find the confidence in a positive thought or activity and don’t worry if your mental health goes up and down, that’s ok. Its because you are human.
Whether you’re trying to learn how to overcome a fear of public speaking or trying to deal with current events, you need to be your own best friend. It is hard to get into the habit of doing so, but you’ll be thankful you learned
