May is Mental Health Awareness Month! While mental health is important to address year-round, Mental Health Awareness Month provides a dedicated time for people, organizations, and communities to join their voices to broadcast the message that mental health matters!
The theme “You Matter” is intended to remind you that no matter who you are, where you are from, or what you are going through, you belong here and matter to the people in your life and community. Whether it is through advocacy, education, community engagement, or direct action in your own lives, “You Matter” reflects our commitment to creating a world where everyone’s mental health is valued and supported, no matter who they are.
Each week, I will use the Minnesota Department of Health’s Toolkit to raise awareness and provide actionable tips and resources around mental health and suicide prevention. It will include key messages for discussion, as well as images and additional web resources.
Week 2: Practicing Self-Care Matters. Self-Care is about finding practices that help you thrive, and it can include a wide range of things. It takes purposeful effort, but it can help you maintain or improve your daily mental well-being. It can be helpful to think of it as taking time to care for yourself as you would others. Prioritizing time for self-care doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive, and it is important for you to find out what works best for you. Below are a few different ways to nurture your well-being, from the Mental Health Coalition.
Physical: Notice and address the stress that shows up in your body. Notice what physical activities reduce or alleviate pain, tension, and mental stress for you. Some common activities are massages, fitness, dance, aromatherapy, rest, hugging loved ones (with their consent), and boundary setting. Emotional: Tend to your own internal emotional world, especially your mood and feelings. Ways to tend to your emotional self can include connecting with others, naming and acknowledging your emotions, psychotherapy, journaling or creative writing, art, and setting boundaries. Cognitive: Engage in activities that are intellectually rewarding and/or stimulating. This can include reading, writing, listening to books or podcasts, watching movies, and psychotherapy. Spiritual: This can take many different forms and does not have to be tied to formal religion. It means getting in touch with the less tangible aspects of yourself and the world around you. This can include meditation, breath work, prayer, connecting with a spiritual or religious community, and mantras.
Especially during times of stress and uncertainty, identifying a few small ways to take care of yourself can help maintain your mental health and well-being. Set aside the time you need to do it, give yourself permission to embrace it, and work towards adding these moments regularly into your life. Know that what taking care of yourself may look like can change over time, and it is okay to adapt to what activities you engage in to fits your needs.
- Just like you do things to take care of your body, there are things you can do regularly to tend to your mental well-being. This can and will look different for everyone. The JED Foundation has a variety of resources to help find ideas to add to your self-care practice.
- Learning to recognize and name your emotions and know how they show up for you mentally and physically will help you navigate life when your emotions are strong. The Mental Health Coalition has tools for identifying and dealing with feelings.
- Being well connected to other people promotes positive mental health and physical health and gives life meaning. Connecting with others is one of the 10 Tools for Resiliency that Mental Health America has put together to help you feel stronger and more hopeful.
- Finding movement that’s a good match for you physically and mentally can help you thrive. Be kind with yourself and your body in the process of learning to move. Explore these videos from the University of Minnesota’s Move + Thrive Project that features diverse bodies and a variety of movement and meditative practices.
Stay tuned for next week’s message, as I discuss reaching out and seeking help. Be sure to stop in the library and check out our book display that we have up and you can browse our Online Catalog for more selections. We also have some special programs and community presentations scheduled at the library for Mental Health Month. We hope you can join us!
Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe! ~Sally~