Four Ways to Prioritize Mental Health
Hey Sunflowers,
Today we are talking about TANGIBLE ways to prioritize mental health. I have to emphasize tangible because in recent years I’ve seen our community scratch the surface of the mental health conversation but we haven’t given our community the tools to prioritize their own health journey. Before we get too deep, I want to emphasize the need to be gentle with yourself throughout this journey. Not just today or this week but always!
[DISCLAIMER: I am not a mental health professional. All of the advice in this blog post is just that, advice. Some things will work better or worse for different people. This is what has worked for me. (I would love to hear feedback about whether this works well for you.)]
By 30 minutes of silence, I mean putting your phone on do not disturb, setting a 30 minute timer and sitting in silence until the timer goes off. I don’t mean putting on the timer and reading emails or watching Netflix or going to talk to your family.
This is much easier said than done, especially the first couple of times. I would suggest going into a room with the door closed and sitting in an upright position with your phone across the room. I would not suggest laying down, because you might fall asleep, but even if that happens, don’t judge yourself. Be gentle! I also wouldn’t suggest having your phone close to you because you don’t realize how mindless it is to just pick up the phone and completely forget the 30 minutes. As you train your mind, you will begin to crave this 30 minutes of silence and that is what we want.
Creating a routine is essential when trying to prioritize health generally. It is no different for mental health. We must create routines that are conducive to our mental health. The starting point is a sleep routine. Set a bed time and a wake up time for yourself!
Again, be gentle! If you know Saturday is your day to sleep in, SLEEP! Nine times out of ten you need the rest but on a day-to-day basis try to get 8 hours of sleep per night. Which means try to go to sleep by 11pm if you know you need to be up by 7am. Again, as you commit to this regimen it will get easier because your body will start doing it on its own. The sleep schedule is so essential because so often black women are operating out of sleep depravation because it seems there is simply not enough hours in a day. Well, that ends with us! No more operating in any deficit we can control sunflowers!
After committing to silence and creating your routine you’ll probably be left with a lot of thoughts. Some will be positive but some will be heavy. This is where the journal is ESSENTIAL! Your journal doesn’t have to be fancy, it can be a .99 cent notebook.
You just need a place to write. Start with what you’ve discovered so far, things you can't stop seeing in your head, topics you aren’t ready to discuss but you know they are weighing on you. The key to the journal is just starting. Get the pen to the paper and you will be so surprised what comes out. Make sure you store your journal in a place no one will find it! And keep up with it! I love reading my old journals and reflecting on how far I have come!
I am ending with this because this may be the hardest to do. It will take mental strength. I started this week with a reminder to my sunflowers to stop apologizing! Well that is just one of the many boundaries we must set in our lives.
A boundary that I still struggle with is saying no to responsibilities. If it was up to me, I would be helping everyone in the universe with anything they ask of me. But I realized, I’m only hurting myself by spreading myself so thin. Man if I could go back in time and just learn how to say no to things I would be incredibly less stressed and anxious about things. Your boundaries may look completely different than mine, but what is important is that you set them!
Sunflowers, I love you so much and I’m so proud of you for even making it through this blog post. As always, please reach out and let me know what you liked and what you didn't.
forever blooming,
Mikaela Amira
