How To Manage Mental Health And Stress?

Stress is not a disease but a sign of distress. Everyone gets stressed at least once in their lifetime. What matters most is to identify whether it is taking a toll on your life. Mental health fails to be addressed time and again because of how difficult it is to reach a consensus with ourselves, others, and the social stigma that revolves around it.

How to Manage Mental Health And Stress?

Mental stress is a culmination of various repetitive circumstances of dismay and distress that goes unsolved, or perhaps even unnoticed most of the time. It can lead to severe depression. When things don’t happen as expected or some instances push us into a tragic loss, we become mentally weary. Moreover, it gives us a premonition of our deepest sorrows and manifests in many physical forms. It can weigh down your body with emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical symptoms taking over. Many people experience symptoms like frequent body aches, racing thoughts, heaviness in their hearts, inability to concentrate, and agitation. A staggering 30% of the heart attack patients in India experience stress as the prime source of their problem.

An estimated 89% of the Indian population suffers from undue stress, regardless of the gender, age group, or occupation. We need to mold ourselves to handle this situation effectively. Here are five ways to maneuver the power steering of your life.

Identify the cause of stress

Just like solving any other problem, you need to trace yourself back to the roots. Put in the time to realize what you are going through and that you can overcome it by analyzing the source of origin. Most often, stress is caused by external or internal factors. External factors generally include unprecedented major life changes, financial difficulties, imprisonment, sedentary lifestyle, relationship or family issues, too much workload, peer pressure, the tragic death of someone closely connected to you, and insufficient time for leisure.

Internal factors of stress are pessimism, isolation, lack of flexibility, perfectionist ideals, or difficulty in accepting overwhelming life changes. Jot down your strengths and weaknesses. Also, pitch in reasons for those weaknesses. You can mold them and alter it such that it favors you and your positive attributes. You can prepare a list of attributes you need to work on to improve your personality. When you are a lot more fruitful in terms of achieving a strong personality, you tend to realize that you have more control over your actions and emotions.

Alter the reasons for your stress

If you cannot avoid the reasons for your stress, alter them.

• Take control over your surroundings

If you feel you are in a toxic crowd, learn to walk away from them, and embrace yourself as you are. Learn to disagree with people that push you down.

• Stay alert

Don’t let your guard down. Always try to accept your flaws and work toward a holistic goal. Moreover, it would help if you instilled a habit of seeing things from a positive perspective. Take a moment before bedtime to be grateful for all things that have uplifted you in life. It could even be about the smallest of things – like how you finally did your laundry or reached office on time.

• Keep yourself busy

All of us have heard of the proverb-“An idle mind is the devil’s workshop”. The more time you spend overthinking, the deeper your mind slips into unwanted conclusions and distress. Keep your mind off the source of torment by being more productive and using your time to do beneficial work.

• Exercise regularly

It is scientifically proven that some exercise can help release hormones that have a positive impact on your body. More than just making you supple, it helps break off negative thoughts while you stay engrossed in the activity in hand. You can try skipping, swimming, cardio, yoga, dancing, or just walking. The balance of a healthy diet is also important, as your diet influences your mood and body. A healthy body can pave the way to creating a sound mind.

• Build healthy relationships

Be willing to open up to someone about what you are going through. Often expressing yourself directly to your close ones can help you vent out feelings of disdain and distress, and eventually convince them to listen to you. A mutual agreement with your companion can help you keep a check on each other and get a helping hand in times of need. Sedentary lifestyles can deteriorate happiness amidst the isolation. As we all know, humans are social beings. Get out of your routine once in a while and spend time with people around you.

• Accept reality positively

Learn to train your mind to realize that few harsh realities cannot be undone and that you have to go easy on yourself sometimes. Mistakes can happen, the past cannot be undone, and few things cannot be mended. But have faith in yourself, that your future is not bleak. You have a say in it, and you can be the change that brings a glimmer of hope in other’s lives too.

Always remember Joe Vitale’s famous quote- “You are the Michelangelo of your own life. The David you are sculpting is you.”