Is self-care good for your mental health?
Yes, self-care is good for your mental health. Especially under the Covid cloud.
As COVID-19 restrictions begin to loosen in Canada and around the world, many are grappling to adjust to new norms for return to work and day-to-day life. At the same time, communities are coping with tremendous loss, grief, and trauma, while facing an uncertain future. Click here to explore our section on grief, loss and healing.
It’s normal to feel concerned about what’s next and it’s important to continue using the strategies and tools you’ve relied on to support yourself and your family in this challenging time.
Check out the other links on the website for further information. No one can take care of your mental health except you. Having professional help can assist in helping you find out what is keeping you stuck, in fear, old habits by giving you tools and strategies for self-care for better mental health, but all the work really is done by you. I speak from experience in moving from pain to power, yes it was a journey that is well worth it!!
I find that empowering. Knowing that we have control over taking control over our own mental health. The myths of self-care. No, it is not being selfish.
Over the years, we’ve seen a steady increase in mental health awareness. More and more, we’re hearing and talking about wellness, mindfulness, therapy, stress management and self-care.
While it’s exciting to see increased interest in mental health, the popularization of wellness can sometimes lead to misinformation and the desire to profit from it—sometimes even called “wellness washing.”
While taking luxurious baths can feel great, self-care goes far beyond that. True wellness requires more than skincare serums, kitchen gadgets and scented candles—and you don’t always need to spend money to feel good.
Self-care is quite literally taking care of yourself. Your whole self.
Of course, self-care looks and feels different for everyone, the tools and strategies for one may not work or even fit with someone else. And that’s OK. The idea is to be curious, be creative and be in control of your own self-care for good mental health.
Interestingly when we are feeling fine we are not thinking above our shoulders and our mental health, we are not thinking about what happens when we are dealing with workplace bullying, depression, anxiety, PTSD. Everything seems fine why worry or even be concerned about our mental health?
Once we are in that pit of depression, anxiety, PTSD and experiencing suicidal thoughts it’s a little late. The struggle can seem overwhelming, intense, hopeless and sometimes we lose our friends, family and coworkers to suicide. The good news is it’s never too late to start creating your own self-care tools for good mental and physical health, good self-care tools and strategies that can get you through those difficult times in life.
None of us is invincible. At some point, each of us will experience our darkest hour, extreme stress, sadness, loss of a loved one, accidents, illness and trauma.
“ Even the darkest hour is only 60 minutes.”By Morris Mandel
The idea is to be curious about your own emotional and mental health. Ask yourself what works for you, what doesn’t, what patterns of behaviour are not working for you. Ask yourself what patterns of behaviour are working?
Think back to childhood, often our coping skills are created in childhood. Trauma and neglect, being left alone in our pain can keep us stuck in those patterns of self-care, even when they are destructive in our adult lives.
Being curious means we are opening our minds, becoming more aware and mindful of what is going on for our mental health as soon as how our past may influence our today.
Don’t you find that incredibly
empowering?
I do!
Imagine what your life would be with better coping skills to help you in your personal relationships, in your workplace and in life in general. The hope is that you continue to be curious, willing and want to learn and grow in living your best and happiest most successful life. It is a journey to the very end and why not try to be happy.
So far there’s no proof that we get a second time around so the important thing is learning to live your best life today, with speaking up, self-compassion curiosity and effective empowering self-care tools for good mental health. Your mental health is truly in your own hands, seek professional help if needed and never give up on you.
I know I like to keep learning from others and finding my own inner peace with self-care tools for good mental health. A work in progress.