9 Personal Strategies to Care for my Mental Health

9 personal strategies to care for my mental health

I wanted to come on today with just some of my personal strategies for caring for my mental health. If you know me, you know me here, and if you know me on a more personal level, you know that in general, I am a fairly optimistic person.

I'm positive, I am definitely a glass half full. It has, uh, been one of my growing areas, honestly, to be able to. Recognize the hard and the tough, and just to meet people there and not try to show them the positive light, which I've learned is not helpful. When someone is struggling or suffering, you don't need to say, well, at least fill in the blank.

So this is kind of my normal state, but just like everybody else, I have my dips, I have my times when I am challenged to be in my homeostatic space in my head. When that happens, I have learned enough about myself and I have learned enough about what. Uh, makes me feel and function well that I have these little tricks and tools in my bag that I will intentionally do.

Now, none of these are earth shattering, and in fact, many of them you have heard throughout the years, whenever I have had conversations with mental health experts because we have had plenty of conversations with licensed professional counselors. And, uh, licensed clinical social workers. So some of these you've heard, but this is, has just been my way of pulling all of that together and.

Applying it to me and how I tick and how I move. I have eight strategies that I want to share with you that I will be intentional about for a period of time until I turn that corner, until I find myself feeling better either in my body or in my mind, because. If you've ever dealt with these little dips and depressions, you know that sometimes you will feel that in your body, even if you think your mind is okay.

So I will kind, I will do this, and it is intentional, and I want to make sure too that this does not come across as legalistic or that I am strictly following the rules. That's not necessarily how it is, but it's an embracement of what I know will bridge the gap and get me to the other side. So I'm going to share these eight strategies with you and then I will kind of pull all of that together at the very end and share some, or share an announcement with you about going forward.

So be sure to stick till the end. Now, I've tried to put these in order where they make the most sense and. I don't wanna say that they're prioritized with the exception of the first one, and so I'll just go ahead and give you that first one. Number one, when I am trying to focus on my mental health is I fiercely protect my sleep.

We are learning more and more about the benefit of sleep. In fact, I reference the episode I had with Morgan Adams, which was season 15, episode one on how to sleep better. So often I will tell my friends about this. I will say it in conversation because it's been very helpful if you have been part of our challenges, uh, the challenge that I recently had in our private Facebook community, which by the way, if you haven't joined.

Please do. I would love to have you over there. But it, one of the challenges was get outside and get some light therapy in the morning because when you get that light therapy, then that will help you sleep at night. So a lot of these, the next seven things that I have will help protect that sleep. Now, for me, protecting my sleep means don't laugh.

We are, we are wrapping it up. About eight 30 at night. I am in bed by nine with my readers on. And reading my book, I am, the light is out at nine 15 and I'm asleep at nine 18. So it is getting, making sure that I get enough sleep. I typically need between seven and a seven and a half hours. Just for like I can function, I do well, if I can get more like eight to eight and a half, then I'm waking up going.

Oh, that was awesome. But seven to seven and a half is adequate for me. Now, you probably don't need to hear all of the reasons why sleep is important. I think we do know this, but in terms of how it relates to our mental health, One of the things that can happen is if we don't get adequate sleep, then that can raise our cortisol levels because that means our brain has not had enough time to go through and filter out the junk and reset and regulate.

The hormones, whether they are the hunger hormones or the satiation hor hormones, or the hormones of dopamine and serotonin. I mean, sleep is so critical to everything. So that is one reason why I make sure that I get enough sleep in this time of kind of refocusing on my mental health is because I know that chemically my brain needs that time.

So number two is, and that we'll build on this a little bit. Number two is no alcohol. I had a wonderful conversation with Lori Mascot back season 15, episode 12, and that was entitled A Curious Conversation about Sober living and Its Joyful Benefits. So we didn't necessarily get into alcohol as it relates to our mental health, though.

Let's be honest, there's a lot, there are a lot of times that you've had a bad day, you're frustrated, you have relationship issues, and you think I just, I just need to have a drink. I just need to take the edge off when that's not necessarily the most emotionally and mentally healthy way of dealing with it.

Avoiding it is not. The solution. Sometimes I wish it was, but it's just not the solution. So then that's going to kind of keep swirling around in our head. And then of course, alcohol. There's a wonderful episode by the Huberman lab on alcohol and its effects on your mental health, actually it's effects on your health in general.

And he talks a lot about your mental health and basically how. Alcohol is not helpful to that just in any sense. I mean, alcohol can wreck your body and it can also wreck your brain. And then secondarily to that, not secondarily, but additionally to that, alcohol keeps me up at night. I have an Apple watch that I enjoy pulling up my sleep report after, um, or every morning and just kind of seeing like how much REM sleep did I get, how much core sleep did I get, how much deep sleep did I get?

And I don't drink a ton. I never have, but I've actually decreased that pretty significantly since uh, I talked with Lori Mascot and just on my own little path. And after we did this challenge back in January, I notice a big difference in the quality of my sleep. When I have alcohol and I'm talking one glass, or if I have more than one glass, it is affected as well.

So those things are linked together. Alcohol will absolutely impact my sleep, and if I am trying to care for my mental health and have good quality sleep, alcohol is not part of that equation. The third thing I do is. Be very intentional about the types of food that I'm eating. This actually is something that I have done for a bit and I have refined it some since my conversation with Ruth Opio, who is a licensed professional counselor and also an integrative medicine, um, nutrition provider.

And I'm so sorry I can't remember the, the correct title with that, but she has done additional schooling. In how food can affect our mental health. So some of these I have done already and I have, like I said, I've refined it since Ruth came on. So what does that mean if I'm intentional about eating? And I know a lot of you are in the intu, uh, intuitive eating community.

And I think that's wonderful. I have said more than once, I think that this is this ma area or this way of eating and approaching our relationship with food makes a lot of sense. I hold that in the same hand as saying sometimes I just need to be more focused, and that doesn't mean that it's being, uh, that the food police is coming after me or anything like that.

It just means that for my present, And short-term goals that I need to change things up just a bit. So for me what that means is eating a lot of plants and well, it means really three things. Number one, eating a lot of plants. Number two, this is something I've added since Ruth came on. Um, Eating more fatty fish, so we'll eat salmon at my house.

And then also we eat a lot of steelhead trout because one of my people is, one of my people are whatever, allergic to salmon, so I can't do that. However, Costco has individually quick frozen, individually sealed. Uh, pieces of salmon. So that is something that I will have for lunch often and I'll just kind of do this in general, but I'll up my game a bit in, in these seasons, and that has been something nice that I can make just for me.

And it's not like I'm making an entire filet of it for my family. Now for my family, I will do the steelhead trout. Steelhead Trout looks just like salmon. It tastes like it tastes like Atlantic salmon, so it's a little more buttery than the wild salmon, but it still has good Omega three s. I have to admit, I'm not sure where those omega three lies, if it's farmed or not, because I think that the.

Food that it consumes to grow and get big is different if it's farmed versus if it's wild. But I'm just doing the best I can and it's easy for me. So I will get maybe a big filet of that and then I will cut that into portions that work for me and. Uh, wrap them up and then freeze them. So again, that's something I can pull out for lunch.

And then of course we will have that for dinner as well. And then the third part of using food to help my mental health really lies under having enough magnesium. Which is one thing that, uh, Ruth suggested now because I like to link all of this together and because that's just how God designed everything.

Magnesium number one, she said, can help our mental health. Guess what? Magnesium also can do help your sleep. And if you will listen to, or if you've been with me for a little bit and you listened to Natalie Gerardo back in season 15, episode two, she talked to us some about the benefits of magnesium overall, and I do love, love, love.

The lotion that she has. So even though that's not food, I will use that. I just use that in general. But I will make sure that I take, uh, magnesium and what I have found for me is I will take magnesium around dinnertime and that seems to give me the, uh, sleep benefits. At night more so than if I take it earlier in the day.

I have no idea if that's scientific or if that holds true in any sort of study or research. That's just what I'm noticing in my own body as a secondary benefit. It all has also helped my blood pressure. I have higher blood pressure and I'm on blood pressure medication and I am still on my medication, but with my doctor's, uh, approval and.

Understanding and everything that I'm doing, I will pull down my medication some. And magnesium definitely helps that. So those are kind of the three things that I'll do with regard to food and nutrition. I eat lots of plants. I have omega three s in terms of either salmon or steelhead trout, and I make sure that I'm getting plenty of magnesium.

Obviously, if I'm having lots of plants, then I will be getting magnesium in my diet, which is the best way. But supplementing does seem to help as well. Number four. Limit sugar. I don't wanna lose you don't lose. Don't, don't leave me. Don't leave me. I know, but this is the thing, there's just nothing good about sugar.

I mean, and I don't have a problem with it, and I eat it. And I had chocolate today and the latest thing that I've been loving is dried mango. And the dried mango that's not unsweetened. So it has sugar in it and it's delicious, you guys. I love it. However, Even Ruth was talking about how sugar can really, it can, you know, it's, it's a processed food, which is just not great for our mental health as well.

I don't feel like I need to go into this one too deeply. We all have our own relationship with sugar, and I think wherever you are is where you are. But again, in periods of when I'm trying to be intentional about it, that's just something that has to go. And so what I tell myself is I choose not to right now.

And so it's. It's not binding, it's not forever. It doesn't seem overwhelming. It's just, right now I choose not to. So when I wanna walk by and get that chocolate or get a cookie or something like that, I'll just tell myself that's not meeting my goals, that's not helping me meet my goals, and I choose not to.

So maybe that'll help you if you, if that's, if sugar is a thing for you. Okay. The next one, number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Six fresh air. This is also something that was in our, uh, 10 simple ways to take care of your self Challenge that we did over on the Facebook group because fresh air can be so good. One of the things it can do is boost our serotonin levels, which are, um, one of the hormones that will regulate our mood.

And so just walking outside. Can help you feel better about this. And actually, as I'm talking about this, I'm like, oh yeah, I wrote this. I, I wrote this in my book. It's been so long since I've written it. I forgot that I'd added that. But just getting outside for fresh air five minutes throughout the day.

And then when you get that fresh air and you are outside, and if you will not have those sunglasses on, guess what you're also doing. Helping your sleep. It's like all roads in this conversation lead back to sleep. So the fresh air definitely is something that is important and I think we all recognize that.

But if you're like me, it just is hard to justify walking outside for five minutes and getting that fresh air. I mean, it's like I, I got too much to do. I just, I don't have time for that. But it might be that maybe you do, and it might be that if that, if you take the few minutes during the day, then it might be that you gift yourself that time in the middle of the night if you can't sleep or falling asleep at night.

So maybe look at it that way. And just take the few minutes to get outside. I know sometimes I will leash up my dog. She actually now knows the words. I'm gonna walk her to the club and back. We've got a little clubhouse, a couple houses down from my house in one of these big master plane communities, and she now knows I'm gonna walk the dog down to the club.

She jumps up and she's running to the leash. To the leash. So, That takes, I've actually counted it because I'm interested in this stuff. It's a thousand steps, like it's just not much at all, but it's enough to kind of reset, get the fresh air, increase that energy, increase those serotonin levels, and again, help the sleep.

Because all conversations in mental health for me lead back to getting quality sleep. The next one that kind of goes along with that is doing some sort of exercise. One of my favorite things to share from my book, your Worthy Body, is this concept of the runners high and endorphins that we can get from walking.

Now you hear the term runners high and you think, okay, well I get, I have to get outside and I have to run for several miles in order for that to kick in. In fact, the endorphin. Kick that you can receive from exercising really only needs about 20 minutes at a moderate pace, which is why this is in the chapter about walking and the benefits of walking because you can get those endorphins that will in turn help our mental health simply from.

Exercising at a moderate pace for 20 minutes. This is one of the big drivers that I have in including exercise in this whole um, episode, is because that will chemically change the structure in my brain. I remember. I don't rem. It was somewhere in the thick of Covid. I don't really remember exactly where it was, but I was having a rough day and I don't know why, like there was nothing pinpointing it, but I just found myself like in, and I don't get this way very often, but I was in bed just crying.

I could not stop crying and I didn't know why. I mean, besides the fact that. You know, the world was going to pot, but I was having such a rough day and my husband is so wonderful and caring, and he would come in and check on me, and I finally had kind of stopped crying and he, he was so tender with this, but he said, Amy, I think you need to go for a walk.

And it wasn't patronizing and it wasn't forceful, but it was just that gentle reminder of how exercise can help my mental health and my brain reset, and I have to admit. He was right. It did help. Now, obviously walking is wonderful and again, getting fresh air so you can combine these. I'm a big fan of multitasking sometimes to my detriment, but walk outside.

I will exercise outside. Often I will do my be complete, which is kind of that lower impact way of stretching and working on balance and just taking the stress level down, which is also helpful to sleep and. I'll do that outside. I'll just pull out my mat. Of course, I also recognize the privilege in this that I can take my mat outside at seven o'clock in the morning and do this.

I know not everybody can based off of where they live or what their circumstances are or work, but if you can sneak that in, maybe on a weekend or maybe when you get home from work, that might be something to experiment with. Also, guess what that does? Helps the sleep. It's, it just never ends. It's all the things to help with the sleep.

So any kind of walking, exercise, yoga, it's funny, I often take Sundays totally off of exercising. Uh, sometimes I'll get up and do something in the morning. Before we go to church, but often I don't do anything and I can literally feel my body is not equalized at the end of the day when it's time to go to bed, because I'm like, oh man, I should have moved.

I should have at least just taken a one mile stroll because I can feel that. My body's like, oh, no, no, no, no. We still have energy. We still have energy left, so getting any kind of movement in will be helpful. And especially some sort of exercise that will lower your stress levels. So again, that's why I'm a big pro, pro proponent of the walking of the be complete of yoga.

Any kind of mind body is a wonderful option when you are stressed out to pull your stress devil down, and obviously that helps our mental health. The next one I do is I will schedule time with a trusted friend. I call these walk and talk. We might do this in person or we might do this over the phone. I have dear friends who live in my neighborhood and I have dear friends who live in other parts of the country, and I will reach out to them and just say, Hey, I need to get together.

This is someone I trust, someone I can be vulnerable with, open up with. Sometimes they may offer guidance if I'm asking for it or they just sit with me in it. And it just kind of depends, but it's always, it lifts my spirit. One of the things that I am learning about myself is how important it is for me to have deep connection with small groups of people.

1, 2, 3, 3 groups. You know, very small groups. So when I do this, I know that my cup will be starting to be refilled when I have these walk and talks. And then again, There's the walk aspect, which covers one of it, and also the fresh air aspect because I wanna do this outside where I just kind of have space to myself.

So again, multitasking with that. And then the next one that I would say after that is, Make an appointment with a therapist. I have a regularly scheduled monthly check-in. Um, it's about monthly with mine. And, you know, truth be told, this is something that I have started doing just this calendar year and I like it.

And I've, it's been, it's been wonderful. So keep that in mind as well, that these are resources to f people who can, she has been able to put words in. Certain circumstances and relationships that I have not been able to and been helped me see things through a new light. And I mean, I don't think that we really need to talk about the benefits of therapy, but if you've been on the fence about it, just go ahead and do it.

Just do it. And then the final thing that I do when I am caring for my mental health is allow for change. I am, and I just had like a 45 minute conversation with a girlfriend of mine while walking and talking. By the way outside, she helped me realize how. I am, she didn't say this, but she was commenting how I'm very thoughtful and methodical about the decisions that I make, and she was right, like her observation of what she saw was spot on.

And then what I realized when I got off and I was preparing for this episode is sometimes I hold that so tightly. I don't allow myself to change and to adjust to what my mental health needs. When I decide I'm gonna do something, it's because I've put a lot of thought into it, which is just part of my personality.

However, that doesn't mean that that needs to happen forever. So that leads me to an announcement I'm making for right now. We will have one more episode next week, which is a season 16 recap. It's the first time I've done something like that, and then I am pressing pause on this podcast until September 12th.

If you've been with me a while, you heard me kind of walk through this some last August. Oh, what was it, season 14, I think, and it was about how I take a mini sabbatical, and so that's kind of what this is. But I'm not really taking a sabbatical. I'm just shifting my energy to some other projects that are more invigorating to me right now and that I'm excited about.

And I'll just tell you right now what I'm doing is spending the summer converting my book, your Worthy Body, to a young women's version. This is something that has been on my heart since I published the book because every time I would talk with a woman who had a teenage daughter, she'd say, oh my gosh, I need this for my daughter.

And so this is something I'm very excited about doing, and I just need the space to be able to do it. And I just need some time for a bit of a change. I will be back on September 12th and be sure to tune in to. Next week because I just will recap everything and I have bundled it into physical health, mental health, spiritual health, kind of miscellaneous things.

And so if you're new or if I have some other people kind of finding the, the podcast throughout the summer, this is a great place to start. And. Explore some of the different topics because some people or different topics hit different people. Now I am not like dropping off the face of the earth for three months.

I will still be involved in the Facebook community group. If you are not part of that, please join and I will put the link, or this link is always in the show notes. And then secondly, I am going to email. Those who have said they want to get podcast update emails, I will be emailing some impactful episodes from the vault once a week.

So these are the episodes that have done really well, and it's from 2001 and be before that. So basically 2020 and 2021. If you have joined us in the Latin and this podcast continues to grow, so chances are you have joined me in the last year or so, and this is a good opportunity to listen to some episodes that maybe you haven't heard, but have been well received by those who have listened.

So here's your two takeaways. Number one, join the Facebook Grace Health Community Group. That link is in the show notes. Number two, be sure you are subscribed to the podcast episodes. If you are on my email list, you will know if you get the podcast updates if you get emails from me on Tuesday, which means is there an email from me to you today?

On Tuesday, because this came out on Tuesday, or whenever you listen, go back and listen to or look at on Tuesday. If not, if you only get an email from me about once a month, that's because you have signed up to receive my monthly updates. I will not be sending you podcast updates. If you have not said that, because I don't want to put too much in your inbox, so just in case if you are not sure, I will put that link down and I want to send you these vaulted, uh, or from the vault episodes, but I can't, if I don't have your email or your permission to send you just once a week updates.

So do those two things. I am also taking time off of everything else in social media, so I am, I am dropping off the grid on Instagram and the Facebook page, not the group. So that is another choice that I am making, which probably should go under the, like, how I care for my mental health, I mean, Let's be honest, social media is not the best for our mental health.

So that is what is going on over the summer. I will be busy. I will have projects, I'm working on some things. I'm just not gonna be putting out some episodes. And I hope to see you back here in September. If you have specific things you want to hear about, reach out to me. My email, I have put in the show notes and email me and just let me know what do you want here, and I will work on finding a guest for that.

So that is all for today. Go out there and have a graced day.