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One of the themes of Mental Health month for 2023 was to “look around, look within.”  This theme was about taking a look at your world and how it can affect your overall health.  This can include anything from basic needs like having access to food, water, air, safety, security, and a place to sleep.  Many other factors can come into play when it comes to mental health including genetics, trauma, environments, belief systems, and thought processes.  As mental health awareness month has come to end I would like to continue to encourage others to increase their wellness and improve their mental health in any way they choose to.  Here are some things I learned while exploring my own “look around, look within” this last month. 

How I feel about myself tends to directly correlate with the state of my house, how I am doing at work, how I am showing up for my people, and my own self care.  A practice I have found to make a huge difference for me is practicing gratitude.  I started this by sharing positives throughout my day with a friend, then I started keeping a gratitude journal in addition to sharing positives.  Looking for things to add to my list of 3 things I am grateful for each day helps me to keep the awareness of positive things throughout my day. 

Another practice I have found to make a difference for me is to give myself 15 minutes a day.  Usually this looks like 15 minutes to read, 15 minutes of movement, or 15 minutes to take a shower and practice self care.  I also started implementing this 15 minutes to 15 minutes of cleaning up my house daily.  Whether I do this in three 5 minute increments or 15 minutes at the end of the day, this helps me to feel more in control of my environment.  This practice also turned into increasing awareness for me by allowing me to create at least 15 minutes a day of giving my daughter undivided attention.             Daily relaxation techniques I have found helpful include daily body scans, progressive muscle relaxation, five senses, and practicing deep breathing.  In moments of high stress and anxiety it is a lot easier to tap into relaxation exercises if they are already being practiced daily.   Beyond the practices I have found to be helpful there are several other ways to increase “looking around” including exploring your home environment and removing things that add unnecessary stress, walking outside and planting your feet in the ground and looking around your surroundings, doing a five senses exercise with what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.  It can also include looking around at the people who are in your life and if they support and enhance you, as well as how you spend your time, and in what environments.   If there are things in your environment, people you surround yourself, or within yourself that are adding to mental health struggles it may be time to consider making some changes.  We are here to help.  “Tackling physical and emotional pain.“ – Emilie Barragan, LCSW