Tips For Feeling Happier X Mental Health Monday

Mental Health can make you believe that you'll never feel happy again, that smiling won't be possible ever and laughing is a thing of the past but i'm here to tell you that's not entirely true, you may struggle with those things for a while but life is like a heartbeat it goes up and down; right now you might be on the down *timing can vary from days/weeks even to years unfortunately, ya just gotta ride it out man* but at some point things will change from down to up. 

Happiness however is not a permanent emotion state once you reach it...we're not supposed to be happy 24/7 anyways so don't feel bad that you're unhappy most of the time, stop putting pressure on yourself to always feel happy; when you're struggling the pressure will only make you feel worse. When you're struggling you need to focus on a healthy sleep schedule and eating regular meals as both lack of sleep and lack of food can be triggers for low mood. Acknowledge where you are and think about how you can strive for feeling more content (in any areas of life) which provides happiness. Work on feeling more content in one area of life at a time, is the best plan for success for example if you're dissatisfied with every area of life, focus on just one part that you can do something about in the day/week then once you've completed it set another task/goal to get you closer to feeling content in that area of life, repeat this process till you've worked on all areas and you should be feeling more content along the way. Being more organised can also make you feel more content and generally helps with your mental health (messy home = messy mind).  

Acceptance is important for feeling happier, accept what you cannot change and stop being so uptight about little things; If it won't matter in 5 years then don't spend too long thinking or being upset about it. Don't take yourself or anyone too seriously either, *harder done than said when you've experienced a lot of trauma, I understand* but knowing we're human which means we all make mistakes should help a little. Understanding that when things don't workout, overthinking and being horrible to yourself isn't the solution but rather try think positively when stuff does go wrong *focus on the solution not the problem*. A solution could be as simple as remembering your roots, community is important for feeling happier; make more of an effort with friends and family. 

Life and yourself are constantly changing, know that this means what your facing will eventually pass and what matters is creating a self that we wish to be despite the setbacks or challenges. You can plan life but guaranteed life has lessons for you to learn along the way, that might put you on a different path to the one you planned. 

Spend time in nature when the weathers good as the sun makes you feel brighter and happier, even the happiest of people can feel down when it rains. 

Limit the amount of time spent on social media, try art journalling or listening to music that makes you feel good for other ways to feel happier. To be happy is to understand yourself and a key way of doing this is by art journalling. 

Feeling happier can happen when you least expect it, you can just wake up and feel happier or it can be a gradual thing where each day it gets a bit easier on the emotions. 

If you try out any of these tips, let me know in the comments how it went

Till next time,

Stevie x