As summer winds down and we transition into a new season, it’s important to allow ourselves the mental space to shift gears, as well. I’m trying to have more kindness towards myself and schedule more time in my calendar to breathe, relax, and listen to what my body is telling me. My Instagram feed has been full of people sharing their mental health experiences, encouragement, and tips. Seeing all the content has helped inspire me to pause and assess my own mental health. This week I made it a priority to improve my quality of sleep. I also made time to think about 6 ways to reset my mental health this season––and I wanted to share those with you.
1. Dedicate One Whole Week For Yourself
After work and other responsibilities, utilize the weekend to take much-needed time to have an open schedule. This means, around work/family responsibilities, don’t schedule additional tasks, appointments, or other non-mandatory things to do. Allow yourself room to breathe and create space for yourself that isn’t dependent on achieving anything or doing tasks.
2. Adjust Your Digital Time Limit
Most smartphones and other technology have features that send you alerts showing how much time you spend on the device/on apps. If you currently do not have a time limit set on your devices, now is a great time to create one. If you have this in place, lower the time you allow yourself to be on apps.
3. Have A Goal Setting Session With A Therapist
Creating a list of goals is important to turn your dreams into a reality. Sometimes it can be overwhelming working towards those goals when life seems overwhelming. Having a therapist who can encourage, challenge, and help pace you is invaluable. Therapists are great to challenge why you’re setting the goals you are. They’ll make sure you’re setting goals you REALLY want to set and not subconsciously working towards things, ideas, or achievements that others and society expect you to.
4. Spend Time In Nature
It is scientifically proven that spending time outside in nature helps us to feel calmer and connected to ourselves. While most people either can’t get away or don’t feel comfortable traveling yet, there are many things we can do without spending money or disrupting the life we’re currently living. Accessible ways to spend time in nature could look like any of the following things: short walks throughout the day, weekend prairie path/nature preserve walks and picnics, or camping in your backyard.
5. Declutter One Area Of Your Home
Sometimes I get so inspired and on-board with the idea of decluttering that I overwhelm myself and tackle it all––or rather, I think I need to and try to achieve that. About halfway through I get burnout and abandon my decluttering pursuits. I’ve found setting one area/thing to declutter and focusing my energy on that task has helped so much. I not only feel more productive, but I’m more proud of myself afterward because I see the organized area and can check that off of my list.
6. Reset or Adjust Your Boundaries
Boundaries are vital to protecting our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Boundaries are important for many reasons. One being that they teach others how we will allow others to treat us. Another vital reason for the importance of boundaries is they help us to understand ourselves. Boundaries aren’t something you set once in your life then uphold forever. They can change as you grow, learn, and find yourself in new life stages. The beauty of boundaries is they’re in place to protect you and others. So, maybe one of the reasons you’re exhausted is because you’ve broken a boundary––with yourself or others. Take time to honestly reflect and see where you can adjust boundaries or create and enforce them.
7. Work Towards Your Yearly Reading Goal
There are many benefits to reading and formats to do so. Audiobooks, Kindles, and physical books stretch our minds and help us to learn new things, explore places and realities we may not be able to ever go, and they can help us relate and understand our own lives. Goodreads is a free app that has a feature for users to signup and tracks how many books they read, mark books they want to read, and connect with other readers around the world. My favorite part of the app is the feature to set a reading goal. I’ve used this to help me stay motivated to read. It has also helped me to make time for my mental health by scheduling time to read when I would otherwise watch a movie or do more work. My reading goal for 2021 has really pushed me to show up for myself outside of work and my relationships. The relationship I will always have from birth to death is the one with myself. I want it to be a healthy and sustainable one.
The relationship I will have from birth to death, is the one with myself. I want it to be a healthy and sustainable one.
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