Mental wellness and well-being have become indispensable components of a healthy life. It is a state in which an individual becomes aware of their abilities and are able to cope with day-to-day stress. It also enables one to work productively and contribute to their community. According to WHO, around 7.5% of Indians suffer from some mental health disorder which makes it roughly 56 million people with depression and 38 million suffering from anxiety. Despite being aware of importance of mental health and well-being, why do we often find ourselves neglecting our mental well-being?
To live a happy and healthy life it is important to look after our mental health and well-being. A mantra that can be followed by an individual to keep up with their well-being is to assign time to it every day. Just like it is important for us to eat to re-energise the body, similarly, it is highly important to dedicate some time of the day to uplift or balance our mental well-being. Some of the ways to improve and work on our mental well-being are:
- Personal Time : Take out small portion of time in the day for yourself. We often get so busy in our life and routine that we forget to give ourselves the due time and attention. It is vital to take out me time
every day and indulge in an activity that makes us happy.
- Social Connection : We humans are social creatures, and we need company of our loved ones to feel and function at our best. It is essential we take out small parts of our day or week and spend quality time with our loved ones, a small effort to come out from behind our computer/ phone screen will do wonders.
- Staying Active : We often find we spend most of our day at office and leave out physical activity. If our body is healthy it will automatically result in greater mental and emotional well-being, it is essential to go for strolls, do yoga or meditation and stay active.
- Managing stress: Stress takes a mental and emotional toll, and it is important to keep it under control. Identifying the stressors for gaining an insight into main area of concern will allow us to manage it, cope with it and overcome it.
- Meditation and mindfulness: In today 's fast-moving world we pass days without noticing how it is passing, we just sail through the week. It is essential that even during this fast-moving pace we take time out to notice our day, how it is passing and take some out to meditate to become aware of our body, our thoughts and feelings.
- Practice the 4 A's: In your daily lives start using the 4 A 's that is Avoid, Alter, Adapt, and Accept. Although avoiding could seem as a negative coping mechanisms, sometimes it becomes important to avoid for eliminating some stressors in our lives. Alter refers to altering our perception towards the situation. Adapt implies adapting to the new change be it at our home or at our workplace to maintain peace within self. Acceptance is about acknowledging the presence of stress and working on it.
Our mental well-being is as important as our physical health, and a good mental health gives us the ability to deal effectively with our thoughts, feelings, and cope with the ups and down of everyday life. So, let us work and take small steps to acknowledge positive things in our everyday life and show gratitude. Always remember Increasing the strength of our minds is the only way to reduce the difficulty of life.
