Natural mental health medicines.
Creating daily habits to recover your inner peace.
I thought I'd share some ways in which I personally manage my mental health on a day to day basis - what has worked for me at different stages of recovery and what's helped me to cope and to stay balanced when I go off track.
Please know that each person is unique and what works for one person may not work for another. If you try different things though, and don't give up, you'll find what works for you in that process.
There are endless ways you can manage your mental health alongside medication and therapy (always consult your doctor about these first) which can also be free or low cost.
Creating little daily habits and being consistent over time is what has worked best for me. It doesn't have to be a lot of time commitment either, just whatever you feel able for, given your current mental health state.
Please note that I do take medications, but I also changed my lifestyle to work alongside my meds, in order to get best out of them.
I think it's really important to take note of the mental approach to these natural ways of coping and managing mental illness:
You're not doing these activities to achieve something or to get some goal or for validation or to prove you're worthy or good at something. You're doing these activities in your day to become present, to let go, to uncover your true emotions… to just be. To form a safe connection with yourself that you can build over time and feel safe in your body again. You're doing these activities to accept yourself.
It's about finding what works for you. Meditation isn't for everyone - I just happen to enjoy it and find peace that way. (When I was depressed though, it made me feel worse as it didn't work the way it was supposed to and it exasperated my symptoms as a result.)
So different things can work at different stages of recovery. That is okay. Try different things and see what works for you. Remember the intention behind the activity should not be goal oriented or trying to achieve something - it should be the opposite to help you let go and bring you back into this moment where you feel safe in your body to express your current truth and what you're going through.
Here is a list of different habits you can try fit into your day for time for yourself and self care
Writing: Finding my voice through various outlets gave me back my power that mental illness had robbed from me. You can try:
Journaling
Free writing
Poetry.
Meditation and Mindfulness Practices:
All the different forms of helping you to let go and find acceptance and peace in the moment no matter what is currently happening in your outer world such as:
Movement /Dance/ Walking in nature/ Stretching/ Breathing/
There are lots of things you can try to feel safe and grounded again in your body. It doesn’t have to have a fancy name or take ages to practice and learn. I incorporated some simple stretches into my daily routine which takes about ten minutes for me to do. I do these stretches throughout the day whenever I feel overwhelmed to help regulate my nervous system and bring me back to a state of balance.
More examples :
Skating/ running / weights/hiking/swimming…
There's so many natural ways to take care of your mental well-being along
A lot of these things are free:
Finally some other ways to cope :
Singing
Art
Drawing
I’m not saying any of these activities will cure your mental illness BUT they are excellent ways of managing and coping with mental illness and over time can bring great results for your overall sense of inner well-being. So today, try carve out a small bit of time for you and do something your inner child would have loved to do. For no other reason then just the joy of being alive.