Five Ways to Start Taking Care of Your Emotions (and yourself)
Our mental health jumps and dives like anything else in this world. Finding a place to start can feel overwhelming! Impossible! Just another add to our to-do list! In today’s post, we will look at five ways to start addressing emotions and introduce some care to yourself.
Check in with your physical health.
Are you recently recovering from a cold? Do you have a health issue that is part of your life? Even if you have a diagnosis that has been managed for years, physical health issues, diagnoses, or viruses can play a major role in your mood. Giving yourself permission to heal can make a huge difference. Noticing that you have some mental energy going to something other than your job or day to day may be incredibly validating.
2. Fuel your body
Are you getting a balance of nutrient dense foods throughout the day? Not meeting your body’s needs or overindulging and going beyond what your body needs can influence your mood significantly.
3. Evaluate your use of mood altering substances
There are a lot of socially acceptable coping mechanisms that include the use of substances that alter our state of mind or moods (i.e. alcohol or cannabis). Similarly to food intake, over indulging in these substances will impact your mood. If consistent use of these substances is part of your routine, you may want to consider decreasing use to explore how these substances impact your mood. Talking with your medical provider and mental health provider about this can also be helpful. Always take medications as prescribed by your medical professional.
4. Take a look at your sleep routine
Do you go to sleep and wake up at different times each day? Are you under six hours of sleep each night? Working towards getting a consistent (or as close to consistent as possible for your lifestyle) sleep routine can help with mood regulation. Granted, poor sleep is a common issue in our day and age, so try not to let this one stress you out.
Start with picking a consistent bed time and wake up time. Sleep routines take time and are never perfect. Be gentle with yourself. Sometimes our lives throw obstacles our way that make a regular sleep routine challenging (jobs, projects that are due for work/school, a new baby, a puppy, the list goes on and on).
5. Getting regular movement
Call it exercise or movement, getting active can help with emotion regulation. Whether it is something like a gym routine, going for walks, or stretching and moving your body consistently can support mood. Can you take 5 minutes out of your day to walk down the street? Can you walk around your block? What about a 15 min yoga video on YouTube? We don’t have to join a CrossFit gym or run a marathon to introduce movement to our lives.
These five things are not going to solve all of your problems or make the hard things go away. Life is full of challenges, hardships, and adversities. All we can do is the next thing. We don’t have to master or do all of these five things at once.
