The prepping lifestyle can be a hard one to handle, even if purely on an informational standpoint. If you want to be prepared, you have to stay informed about the current dangers of the world. This means keeping in touch with all of the bad news in our lives. Hearing about school shootings, rotting meat in other countries, and the looming risk of nuclear war will take its toll on your mind. It’s important that you allow yourself some mental wellness.
Mental health is an often underlooked idea. People never want to admit that they’re not doing ok in their head. As a result, awareness and assistance go underfunded or unspoken. In reality, we all need some help mentally. The National Institute of Mental Health states that Nearly one in five U.S. adults lives with a mental illness. Here are a few ways you can help promote a healthier mind, and as a result, a happier mind.
Don’t Avoid Professional Help
There’s a stigma to seeing a therapist. Perhaps people see it as a sign of weakness. But that’s a foolish way of looking at it. If you’re experiencing daily chest pains, you’d see a doctor, right? Heck, even when you aren’t sick, most people still have regular check-ins. Why can’t we do the same for our mental well being? Well we can, it’s called seeing a therapist. Having a professional to help you process and organize the things on your mind will have a significant improvement.
In a similar vein, If a psychiatrist recommends mental medication (anti-depressants, etc), then actually consider it. Lactose intolerant folks talk calcium pills, after all. Sometimes we need to supplement something our body isn’t making enough of.
Practice healthy Acts
Sometimes you will see people say “how can you be depressed when you can go jogging” and such similar ideas. While that’s a rude inconsideration to mental health, there is a grain of truth there. Practicing activities shown to increase mental health and happiness will, as it sounds, improve mental health and happiness. These are usually endorphin-boosting activities. Here are some examples:
- Comfortable exercise
- Create art (play music, paint, draw, etc)
- Volunteer for charity
- Join an activity based club
If you don’t want to add a commitment to a schedule, then I recommend just being nice. While that sounds obvious, it’s more than that. If you see a stranger needing help, like changing a flat fire for example, stop and offer to lend a hand. If a friend calls and asks for help moving, agree to. Sure it’s more work for you, but by being a force of goodness in the world, you can more easily remember that amongst all that bad news you see, there are still good people like you.
Step Away Sometimes
It’s easy to get caught up in the news. You may feel like you NEED to keep up to date or stay connected to current events. The reality is: you don’t. It’s ok to take some time and simply ignore those news posts and tv segments. Stepping away for a bit and doing something you enjoy, like reading a book or playing video games, can be the exact kind of rest and recovery your brain needs.