Piles of workload, pressure to meet deadlines, catching up with family and friends and or your partner, the constant struggle of trying to maintain a good work-life balance and working on your personal growth, altogether can be too much to handle for anyone!

 

With the new year around the corner, let’s make a resolution to make our mental health a priority!

 

Taking care of one’s mental health takes constant effort and commitment. Good mental health helps us be better prepared for handling difficult situations and emotions, build resilience, maintain healthy relationships with self and others, boost productivity, and improve the overall quality of life. 

 

More often than not, while dealing with external stressors, like those mentioned above, we forget to check in with ourselves and notice, acknowledge and deal with how we’re feeling. We start getting disconnected from ourselves, without even realizing it. This can take a toll on our physical health as well. Here are some physical signs of stress to look out for:

 

·       Pains, aches, or stiffness 

·       Difficulty breathing

·       Sleep problems

·       Fatigue

·       High blood pressure

·       Indigestion 

·       Difficulty eating

 

Sometimes, we experience overwhelming stress and or emotions and we don’t know how to deal with them. During these times, we might end up deteriorating our condition by indulging in unhealthy coping strategies instead of healthy ones. These unhealthy coping strategies could include: using substances, sleeping too much, binge-watching shows, spending too much money, etc. These strategies may provide relief at that moment but have detrimental effects on our well-being in the long term. If we continue to experience overwhelming stress very frequently (chronic stress) and don’t know how to self soothe, regulate our emotions or use healthy coping strategies to deal with stress, then it is likely that it would immensely impact our physical and mental health.

 

Some healthy coping ways to consider-

 

·       Confide in people you trust

·       Have realistic expectations from yourself and others

·       Establish and maintain boundaries

·       Take breaks as and when required

·       Stay rooted in the present by practicing mindfulness

 

 

Briefly put, in the process of constantly putting out fires, we tend to ignore our mental well-being. This new year, let’s look inward, introspect and take steps to improve our relationship with ourselves by focusing on our mental health. 

 

 

* If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health-related problems, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional. Please remember that you don’t have to be at your worst to seek help.