A parent’s mental health has a huge impact on the child’s mental and physical health.
It is so important that we as parents take care of our mental health and provide a happy, nurturing space to our little ones.
We must work on our inner world and manifest our outer world through our thoughts.
Poor mental health can make it very tough for parents to provide quality time to their children.
Let’s commit to working on our stress and anxiety.
Let’s commit to staying happy and joyful.
When we can do this we will start to pass on positive energy to our children.
Our children will start to thrive and grow beautifully.
Now that we know how important it is to focus on mental health let’s find out how we can do it.
Here are a few things that I practice and things that have helped me stay calm in most situations.
1. Practise Gratitude
Be grateful for the small and big things that you have. When you are grateful you start to have a positive outlook towards life. You start to look at the glass as half full and not as half empty. Gratitude shifts your focus towards what you already have.
You will be surprised to see how much you have been blessed with when you sit down to do your daily gratitude. I have a beautiful notebook where I write my daily gratitude and would encourage you to do the same. Get a pretty notebook and practice gratitude every single day.
2. Avoiding Unhelpful Pattern of Thoughts
We all have a mind that speaks to us. Sometimes our mind tells us things that are not true but make us feel bad about who we are. These are the unhelpful patterns of thoughts that we must try to avoid. We do mind reading and make assumptions about what the other person is saying/ thinking. We eternalize and say things like, “He always puts me last.” These thought patterns don’t serve us. They only help us feel miserable. Let’s not make assumptions and guess what others think of us. Let’s try to stop this contact mind chatter and get her peace back.
3. Believe That Everyone is Doing Their Best
Believe that everyone is doing the best that they can with the limited intelligence, information, and knowledge that they have. Sometimes people end up hurting you because they don’t know a better way to behave. Having said that, it is tough to stay with such people for too long. However, sometimes these people can be a part of our family and it might be difficult for us to avoid them completely. In that case, we can just start by limiting our interactions with and expectations from these people.
4. Find Time For Selfcare
I recently did a poll with a set of 2000+ mothers and asked them if they had a self-care routine. More than 78% of them didn’t have a self-care routine. Most mothers feel guilty when they prioritize themselves over their families and some of them were honest to admit that they were just lazy when it came to attending to their own needs.
Not having a self-care routine is like driving a car without adding any extra fuel to it. A time will come for sure when the car’s engine will break down. Let’s be more kind to our bodies and mind and find some time for ourselves. This will help us to recharge ourselves and give more of ourselves to others. Let’s look at self-care as an opportunity to be better equipped to help others.
5. Taking 100% Responsibility
In life, we go through many experiences and events, both happy and challenging. Remember we cannot control what will happen to us but we can take charge of our responses. When we focus on the event we can’t influence the outcome at all. However, we can have control over our outcome by focusing on our responses.
For example, consider two people who are stuck in traffic. The event is the same for both of them. One of them is very calm and decides to spend her time reading a book while stuck in traffic. Whereas the other person gets irritated and starts to complain about how horrible the traffic is. The outcome will be very different for both of them. The lady who chose to read a book will stay calm and look fresh. However, the lady who spent her time complaining and cribbing will end up with a bad headache.
Just like that in life, we must focus only on our responses and not on the event because honestly, we have little or no control over the events.
6. Celebrating Small Wins
More often than not we don’t give ourselves enough credit for what we do and the small progress that we make. It is so important that we record our small wins and celebrate each win no matter how small it is. By recording our wins our self-esteem and confidence get a boost and we feel more ready to tackle bigger challenges. A win can be anything. For someone who wakes up at 8 am every day, getting up at 7:30 am consistently for 3 days in a row can be a win. For someone who is trying to lose weight, going to the gym for 30 minutes 4 times a week is a win. Just notice all your wins during the day and give yourself the credit for doing it.
7. Meditate, Breathe, Pause and Reflect
Meditation can help improve focus, concentration, self-awareness, and energy levels. Five to ten minutes of meditation every day can have a long-lasting impact on your mental as well as your physical health.
Conclusion
These are a few things that help me take care of my mental health. I feel that all of us are responsible for how different situations make us feel. We for sure cannot control every interaction and experience that we go through but we for sure can control how they make us feel. I hope that you will take charge and make sure that you do your best to stay happy irrespective of what shows up in your life.